The Moments I Forgot
by listenWITHyourHEART
Summary: This is the story of Sam Manson, a girl who isn't what she seems; take a few random black-outs from brain-pain, a scary-powerful new halfa-suspected ghost who seems dead set on killing Sam… and you get a whole lot of things Sam doesn't remember. HIATUS!
1. The Moment That Changed Everything

The Moments I Forgot

-a Danny Phantom fic-

By, listenWITHyourHEART

**Disclaimed**

SUMMARY: This is the story of Sam Manson, best known as a Goth, ultra-recyclo-vegetarian and best friend to Tucker Foley and Danny Fenton; less known as one of the three humans who knew the secret of the town's Ghost Boy. And even less known to be a halfa like Danny. In fact, even she doesn't know of her other life. And eventually, the blank periods in her memory start causing questions to arise, that only Luna Specter can answer. Slightly AU. DxS

Preface;; The Moment That Changed Everything… And More

Sometimes she could scarcely remember the time when her life even _resembled_ normalcy; normal has never been used as a word to describe Samantha Manson, resident of Amity Park, best friend to the accident-prone, tech-geek, Tucker Foley and the son of the town's "crackpot ghost hunter inventors", Maddie and Jack Fenton. Though, that phrase was usually uttered by her mother in regards to Danny; not her words at all that she would use to describe him.

Danny Fenton was many things; some you could tell just by looking at him: very tall with scruffy black hair and deep cerulean eyes gave him this almost unapproachable aura, for reasons most of the general populace could not understand. But many of the traits Sam loved about him were things that weren't readily apparent. Like his courage, kindness, compassion, fearlessness. She even loved his stubborn nature, his sometimes annoying "hero-complex" and his complete obliviousness to reality was a nuisance, sure; but that's what made Danny, Danny.

It was true: Danny Fenton was not the boy he was almost four years ago, scrawny and weak-looking. Now, his appearance had altered in subtle ways: he was more muscular and _much _taller (it sometimes annoyed Sam to _no end_ having to crane her neck to look at his face. Curse her shortness…). His face had lost all of its child-like roundness, replaced with chiseled, definitely handsome features. If the things had happened differently then, and his life wasn't changed irrevocably from what it would have been if not for her _stupidity_, Sam didn't know how things would have turned out like, now.

No matter what Danny, or his older sister, Jasmine Fenton, "Jazz", told Sam, she would forever feel horribly guilty for his accident. If she hadn't plugged in that dang power cord… maybe then her life would be _almost_ normal by now. And Danny's too.

It was two weeks before Winter Break from Casper High; her families butler and her chauffeur, Marcus, was taking her to Chicago today for some well needed holiday shopping. Sam was quite upset that she hadn't gotten _anyone_ any presents yet. If Sam was being honest, she'd say the reason was due to her… uh, _involvement_ in increased activity of her "side-job" that, really, was becoming all consuming this year. But, she'd been dealing with this stuff since Danny's accident, so really it couldn't be used as any sort of excuse anymore.

But, Sam was pretty sure if they didn't _lay off!_ - she'd soon either be dead, comatose in some hospital, have a mental breakdown, or end up having to drop out of high school to make this a full time job. It would help if she actually got _paid_ something for her efforts, but she didn't care about money. Her family had enough of that to support three other Sam's, and _then some._

Sam didn't know why _they_ were becoming increasingly more _irritating_ lately; probably because she, Tucker and Danny wouldn't be in Amity Park anymore after August, only a mere eight months away. Well, about that long. She didn't quite think the ghosts that regularly plagued her and her friends are looking forward to Danny moving away for college. Sure will make things a bit more difficult getting to him if he's not strategically available; i.e. near the Fenton Ghost Portal in Danny's parent's basement _slash_ laboratory.

Okay, yeah; you're a _tad_ bit lost here. Thing is, many people around the world and sure as heck the whole of Amity Park – whom have had to deal with almost regular apocalyptic ghost attacks – know of the Ghost Boy, Danny Phantom. He's a good ghost, who is the protector of Amity Park – and the world if it ever comes to that – from the malicious and evil-incented ghosts that get out of the Ghost Zone and into the human world. Some creating havoc just for _kicks_ – Skulker for one, and Desiree could be a problem when someone makes an unfortunate wish – and many for "world domination". Those who fit under the "bent on world conquest" label include Ember McLain, Technus, Youngblood, Pariah Dark, Hotep-Ra, Vortex, Undergrowth… to name a few.

But, yeah; _the point:_ Danny _Fenton_, and Danny _Phantom_ are one and the same. Danny is a halfa, or half-human, half-ghost hybrid.

How did this happen? Well, the birth of Danny's alter-superhero-ego, was the result of the accident Sam caused. It was early one Saturday, in the beginning of her, Tucker and Danny's freshman year. Sam and Tucker had headed over to Danny's place – a house aptly named FentonWorks, which served as the Fenton home, but also the base of operations, research and inventions of his ghost hunting parents – a little after ten in the morning. It was the first weekend of the trio's school year, and two years before that, the three planned a tradition: the first Saturday after school started, they'd all spend the day together, alternating between the one activity they each chose for that day.

Tucker wanted to go and see the new PDA store opening in the mall that day, and Danny planned on a small visit to his favorite comic book store nearby. Sam was still undecided on her activity; she really didn't have anything she wanted to do this weekend this year. The only thing she could think of was that she needed some specific pastels for her art portfolio supplies, but Tucker declared that as a "shopping chore" and told her she had to think of something better.

She still wasn't sure when she and Tucker arrived at Danny's house. Tucker had just knocked a millisecond ago, before the door burst open and the two were hauled inside by Danny's dad, who was very enthusiastic about showing them something. Sam and Tucker could barely squeak out a protest before they found themselves in the basement with the whole Fenton clan.

Danny's mom was using a screw-gun to anchor a screen-plate control pad into the wall next to… _what?_

"Uh, what is – "

Sam begun to ask, but she barely got the beginning of her question out before Jack Fenton boomed in a voice loud enough to quake the walls around them.

"Behold! The Fenton Ghost Portal! With this device, we'll be able to access the Ghost Zone!" he roared proudly to Sam, Tucker, a sleepy and almost completely out of it Danny who was leaning against a metal cabinet on Sam's right, and Jazz, who was frowning something terrible; this look was directed at her parents solely.

"Ugh, mom, dad! How is this practical? You want to bring more ghosts into Amity Park! The occasional one is far too frequent already!" she frowned.

Jack Fenton laughed at that, causing Jazz's frown to deepen.

"Silly Jasmine! It's one-way! They can't get out, but we can get in! Foolproof!"

This of course, ended up _completely false_, and even Jazz knew it.

Jazz snorted in disbelief.

"Since when has any of your inventions been _foolproof,_ dad?"

He frowned slightly at this, but chose to ignore it, and turn to his wife.

"Maddie! Is it ready for the start-up?" he boomed once again, and Sam had to resist wincing and covering her ears.

Maddie Fenton didn't answer right away. But after a few moments, her screw-gun fell silent, and she pulled off her goggles.

"Ready for initiation sequence darling!" she practically squealed, hopping over to him, holding a control box in her hand, which was a mobile device of the one that was attached the wall.

"You guys are insane!" Jazz cried, throwing up her arms. "Can't you wait two minutes while I get out of the house? Excuse me for not wanting to be _blown up_ if this thing malfunctions." And she turned on her heel, and clomped up the stairs from the basement.

Sam could tell Tucker was itching to run too, so she nudged him and he nodded gratefully, getting out of there.

_Wimp._ Sam thought, though affectionately. Tucker may have no spine, but he was a good friend. She however would stay, though of course she didn't want to die, this could however be a landmark event and she didn't want to miss it. Little did she know…

Looking over at Danny, he still looked half-asleep and like he had no clue what was even going on. He had this far-off look in his eyes, arms crossed over his chest, and was staring blankly at the floor a few yards away. She blushed and smiled at how cute he looked when he was oblivious to the world. Then, realizing that _exactly_ she was thinking, she mentally smacked herself for allowing her mind to wander to her unfortunate and unreturned crush on her other best guy friend.

Shaking her head and looking away from him, Sam turned to his parents, and they began to count down excitedly.

"Three! Two! One!" and Maddie smacked the big red button with gusto, eyes wide with anticipation, staring into the tech-infused hole in the wall thing, looking like it was aptly named as a portal. Sam tensed in excitement, as well. Seconds later, the lights inside the portal flickered on full power, then there was a flash and some sparks, and it shorted out.

_Well, that wasn't expected…_ Sam thought, disappointed, though that was nothing compared to Danny's parents. They looked absolutely _crushed_. Without a word, their faces fell, and just as silently, they abruptly left the room, expressions forlorn.

Sam felt for them, and said aloud,

"I wonder what went wrong, huh?"

This caused Danny to jump with a squeak out of his stupor, and he frowned, looking at the contraption.

With a contemplative expression, Danny seemed to almost shrug in a "why not" motion, and moved from his spot, picking up one of his dad's hazmat suits – this one black and silver, thankfully not the horrible traffic-cone orange his dad preferred – and slipped it on, zippering it up.

"Danny, what are you – " Sam began to ask.

Danny made that shrugging motion again and just said,

"I've spent enough time with my parent's inventions, Sam. Maybe if I have a look inside I can figure out what they missed."

Frowning, Sam was reluctant.

"This isn't safe, Danny."

At this he chuckled.

"Well, life ain't either, Sam. Live a little!"

That elicited a laugh. Walking over to him, she gave a light punch to his newly-hazmated shoulder.

"You don't need to tell me twice, Danny Fenton. Go in, I'll take a look at this control panel on the wall. Let me know if you see anything."

" 'kay." He replied, mock saluting to her and headed into the device.

After a few minutes of him in there, and Sam completely at a loss with the tech-mumbo-jumbo very apparent on the control panel screen, he called,

"You know Sam, if you can't understand _computer_, you should call Tuck. He should know by now he can come back."

Sam frowned slightly at the jab Danny made at her technology-ineptness, but grudgingly agreed this was going nowhere without Tucker.

Pulling out her phone, Sam messaged his PDA telling him to get down here.

While she waited, for Tucker said he'd be there in a minute, Sam called to Danny.

"Do you see anything that could be the problem?"

His reply was a bit frustrated. "Eh, maybe, but it just looks like a bunch of different colored wires to me."

"Ahhh," Sam replied, relating.

"I'm coming out then," he said and Sam heard his footsteps coming closer.

That was when she noticed two large unplugged extension cords at her feet. Frowning, Sam picked the two ends up, looking at them.

_Maybe this was the problem? No power…_ and without thinking or checking if Danny was out of the portal, Sam connected the two wires.

This moment was the biggest mistake Sam considered of her life. For at that moment, Tucker appeared… and the Portal whirred life, and with a big flash of light and pulsing energy, accompanied by an ear-piercing scream of agony, Sam realized with horror that Danny was still inside.

"Danny!" San cried, fear gripping her like never before.

_I've killed him! I've killed my best friend! I've killed the boy I love!_ Sam cried in her head.

She went to rush to him inside the Portal, not thinking again, when a sonic-pulse shot out of the glowing green energy inside the portal, knocking her backwards off her feet with the force of the blast.

Tucker did not get hit however. He was still on the last step of the stairs, staring in shock and horror, rooted to the spot and out of harm's way.

The last thing Sam saw before everything went dark was the green glow of the portal faltering, then blinking out… and Danny's prone form on the floor inside.

---

Sam came to a few seconds later, her head throbbing, probably from it hitting the floor so hard. Strangely, Sam's body felt… electrified, though, like all the molecules in her body were vibrating at once. This feeling soon dissipated though, and Sam realized Danny was still lying there.

Tucker had pulled him out of the portal however, but was staring at Danny with a look of pure shock and disbelief on his face. Slowly Sam crawled upright and hobbled over to them, and that's when she saw the changes in Danny's appearance: his ink-black hair was stark white now, his skin sallow and pale, and his hazmat glowing green slightly.

Tears came to Sam's eyes, which never happened. _Ever._ And that also when Danny decided to open his eyes.

Sam gasped, jumping, at the changes there too: instead if his normal piercing blue, they were a glowing neon green.

"Sam…? Tucker…?" Danny groaned in a raspy voice. "Wha-what happened?"

Sam however could barely speak. Tucker though, swallowed, and croaked,

"See for yourself, man." And he helped Danny off the floor, guiding him to a mirror on a nearby wall.

It wasn't long before the three realized that had happened to Danny, what with him suddenly… uh,_ floating _in the air before them.

Somehow, the matter in the ghost portal, altered Danny's DNA, making him half-ghost.

And after that, their lives were a lot more interesting and never the same again.

---

**Authors Note: Hello everyone! I hope you liked the first chapter! I originally had more to put in this chapter, but then I realized I had spewed out over 2,000 words and I was pushing five pages on Word (not in FanFiction format, regular book format, so yeah. Almost five pages is a lot for a fic chapter, but I've written over 20 pages chapters before, in the same format. So yeah, THIS is nothing to what else I can produce!) so I figured that it would be good to split it up, so it wouldn't be overwhelmingly long.**

**But, what did'yah think, though? PLEASE REVIEW! I know EVERYONE asks for you too, but I really want your feedback! It can be like one word, I don't care! Just let me know what you think! And I always love getting plot ideas from my reviewers; it's fun to have them involved (and yes, this is my first published story... on _this_ account. I have a few others... WINKWINK. So, I've been on the FF scene a long time).**

**I used to be pretty bad at my updates, but I'm going to try to be better! And I like the promise this story brings to me; I don't think I'll have trouble spewing out chapters. XP So, yeah, review, alert, favorite... et cetera! Thanks for reading!**

**-listenWITHyourHEART;; Cassidi**


	2. When the Changes Are Subtlety Hinted At

The Moments I Forgot

-a Danny Phantom fic-

By, listenWITHyourHEART

**Disclaimed**

SUMMARY: This is the story of Sam Manson, best known as a Goth, ultra-recyclo-vegetarian and best friend to Tucker Foley and Danny Fenton; less known as one of the three humans who knew the secret of the town's Ghost Boy. And even less known to be a halfa like Danny. In fact, even she doesn't know of her other life. And eventually, the blank periods in her memory start causing questions to arise, that only Luna Specter can answer. Slightly AU. DxS

One;; When the Changes Are Subtlety Hinted At

Sam was… distracted to say the least, the whole three hour drive to Chicago from Amity Park. She didn't even _act_ excited that she had her black Platinum credit card her parents had revoked for a month (due to Lancer calling them, asking if there was some reason Sam had left school early every day the past week, sometimes only setting foot inside the halls of Casper High for a mere second before turning around and leaving in a rush). _It was all thanks those dang FentonFones_, Sam noted with a tinge of bitterness. It wasn't usually like Sam to bemoan her involvement in Danny's other life, but she would seriously be _ticked_ if all this unexpected (and certainly unwanted) ghost activity hindered her being able to graduate and get into Brown.

However, this new knowledge of Sam's 'obvious teenage rebellion against "the Man" that was hindering her college acceptances' – according to Lancer and her parents at least (and a tad bit her, but not because she was 'rebelling') – caused many annoying and prying questions to be thrown her way: 'Sam you're not doing drugs are you!?' – her mother (albeit very shrilly). 'You don't have some tattooed, pierced, biker boyfriend we don't know about, do you?' – her father (as stern as he could be, and almost popping a blood vessel in the process). It was becoming _exhausting_, all the lies, though to those questions, she could tell the truth. "No, and NO!" Good thing they practically ignored the little known fact – though Sam thought Lancer must have told them – that it wasn't just her that had left those five days. Tucker and Danny were also AWOL.

And another little blessing Sam revered daily was the other fact that her parents chose to ignore the obvious and unavoidable presence of ghosts in their town. So, they would never ask her if she knew Phantom, because that would involve acknowledging that he was… there. Not happening.

Though, they claimed 'disappointment' in her 'lack of academic drive' (sooooo untrue; they just threw that in there to make their 'disappointment' seem legit. Because 'disappointed' didn't even scratch the surface on Sam's parents in regard to her… being who she was. Her mother mostly ran that boat, with her father merely chugging along in her wake. In truth, Pamela Manson was completely embarrassed by her daughter's complete and opposite personality, looks, values and beliefs from her own. To Pamela Manson, a daughter who was in any way unlike a younger clone of herself, wasn't a daughter at all. Still, though, she put up an effort every once in a while to try and 'convert' Sam to little avail. So, both of Sam's parents just went through the motions of being 'parents' without ever meaning any of it, least of all truly loving her. Sure; on the surface, they looked like normal devoted, however strict parents, but underneath that was a whole world of hurt and bitterness that only Sam and her parents knew) and took away the access to all her regular outlets (except for the most prominent which they, and everyone but Danny, Tucker and Jazz – and the ghosts they fought on a disgustingly regular basis – knew about) like her music download purchases, and ordering books, clothes and jewelry from the internet. Basically they just took away her ability to access _things_. Not really a punishment, since those were all side 'hobbies' when she wasn't with Danny, Tucker or Jazz.

But, her month-long, very pathetic and _weak_ punishment was over and Sam was going to make a serious dent in the family bank account just in spite (though she didn't really care either way; she just wanted to attempt to annoy her parentals) in the form of holiday presents.

Thankfully, she had drawn up an extensive gift list over the past month; she had approximately 41 presents to buy: seven for Danny, six for Tucker, six for Jazz, one meaningless present for each of her parents, four for her grandmother, one for Marcus and another for Julie (the maid), two each for Danny's parents, one each for Tuckers parents, and three for Dani Phantom – Danny's younger female clone, created by Vlad Masters, or Plasmius (i.e. Danny's archnemesis) – who had emailed Danny saying she was dropping by for a visit a few days before Christmas. One for Valerie, one for Mr. Lancer, and three she wanted for herself.

She knew this would take all day, and if she still couldn't get everything she had on her list in the city, she'd sure find them online. Money like her families would be able to get her anything, even if they said "sold out" on the website or in the store.

Sam knew this day would be eventful one way or another; and she was looking forward for some semi-solitude (she wouldn't be with anyone, but there would be other people around) that she hadn't gotten in _way_ too long.

Marcus was huffing in the driver's seat in front and Sam smiled. He always got easily frustrated with other drivers, and traffic jams were the absolute worst annoyance for him. Sam looked out the deeply tinted windows, absently fingering the credit card she had pulled out of her wallet. Realizing her motions, she smirked. Earlier that week, as soon as she made the shopping trip plans, Sam had snuck into her father's study, and hacked his computer (with obvious help in the form of Tucker. He had created a hacking Flash-drive that would get past the Manson's high tech computer protection programs, so she would access her father's files). Her goal? Create access from her credit card to her families main bank account (which had an almost unbelievable amount of money credited; even Sam was shocked. She didn't know they were _that_ well off!) so she could buy her presents that day without any price restrictions. She knew she'd get in trouble once her father found out or his bank partner alerted him of the change. It would be too late then. And since she was still a minor and it was her families money, she couldn't get in trouble with the authorities even if she wanted too. It was her parent's problem alone.

She didn't plan on spending more than $20,000 today, however. She wasn't _that_ malicious. Sure, she really didn't like her parents, but they were still her parents and they worked hard for that money (even if they acted like total_ pricks_ about it).

Sam sighed, tucking the credit card back in its slot and checking once again to make sure her shopping list was there as well.

All in all, Sam was pretty proud of her present ideas; they all reflected those they were for very well. Looking at Danny's list, she frowned slightly at the amount she was spending on him alone (almost $6,500… he was one-third alone of the total). She highly doubted he'd approve of the cash she was hacking out on his behalf, but this was their last Christmas that they'd share in high school together. She felt that it was special, somehow, and she had to recognize it.

Ten minutes later, however, Sam realized that the view out her window had been still for quite some time. Flipping open her phone, she realized that it was almost…

"Noon!?" Sam cried.

Her outburst caused Marcus to jump slightly, and whirl around to look at his charge with concern.

"Miss Manson?" he asked, slightly timid.

"Marcus! How far are we from Century Mall?" Sam asked, a bit panicky.

"Uh," Marcus mumbled, then quickly glanced at the sedan's GPS above the radio system. "Not far, Miss Manson; about seven blocks."

Smiling, Sam unbuckled her seatbelt and zipped up her light gray tweed trenchcoat, much to Marcus's objection.

"Miss Manson! What are you – "

Sam placed her lithe fingers on the door handle with a smile. "Thanks for taking me this far, Marcus. There is no need for you to waste gas, or your time. I'm sure my parents will need you home, more than I need you here. Head home, I'm fine from here."

"Miss Manson! I must protest! It's not safe for you to go alone! And how will you get home?"

Grinning, Sam patted his wrinkled hand on the passenger seat headrest.

"You worry too much, Marcus. I gotta take care of myself sometimes, otherwise how will I survive at college, in the real world?"

He opened his mouth to say something, but no words came out.

"Marcus, don't worry." Suddenly, an idea sparked Sam's mind. "Oh! Here, hand me your phone!"

"My…?" Marcus said quizzically, pulling it out of his jacket pocket. Sam grabbed it, and opened the app on her phone and entered Marcus's mobile number into the location device. Within seconds, there was a _beep!_ From Marcus's phone, and Sam clicked accept to the prompt, and the app was downloaded onto his phone.

Sam handed Marcus his phone back with a soft smile.

"There," she said before he could ask. "I created a special link between our phones. You can track mine wherever it goes, anywhere. This way, you'll know I'm safe. Basically, it's a SamPS."

Then with a salute, Sam threw open the car door and jumped out onto the sidewalk. She leaned back in quickly and winked to Marcus.

"Try to keep my parents from calling in the Navy, Army, National Guard… et cetera, on me okay? I'll be back in time for the party. _Promise!"_ and with that she slammed the door shut, grinning, and took off down the Chicago sidewalk en route to the shopping center.

Marcus sighed, shaking his head, with a small bemused smile on his face, nevertheless.

"Miss Samantha Manson, you're quite the character."

---

About two hours later, Sam was (sort of) regretting her decision to take off. These bags were getting bothersome… to say the least. They were heavy in her arms and there were many shoppers jostling her load as she made her way through the mall.

Suddenly, another brilliant idea sprung to mind as a rather large sign caught her eye to her right. Stopping for a mere second to read the sign, she grinned and made her way over to the mall's Customer Service desk; which very conveniently had access to all the stores merchandise databases… and Layaway.

Lucky for Sam, there was only one lady ahead of her, who was quickly done. Setting all her purchases on the ground in front of her, Sam replied to the employee's greeting and asked about their Layaway policy.

Nodding at the woman's response, Sam said,

"I'd like to put my purchases there for pick-up next weekend. I'd also like to order a few more items from your central database, please." Sam then handed the woman the rest of her extensive shopping list, accurately describing exactly what she wanted to order, from what store, brand… et cetera.

"Certainly," the woman chipped, and turned to a uniformed man who had just appeared behind the counter from a door behind it. "Carter, could you please take these young lady's purchases to…" she turned back to her computer and made a few clicks of her mouse and a few stabs on her keyboard, "Layaway Bunker #28b57x please?"

"What name should I put the hold under?" he asked in a deep voice, glancing at Sam… then again with a… interested? expression.

Despite herself, Sam felt her cheeks blush. "Samantha Manson, please."

He nodded with a small smile, and came around the counter and took all her bags, loading them onto his arms with a slightly quizzical expression between her and the brands that were displayed on the bags.

Frowning, no longer charmed, Sam could see he was in disbelief and very skeptic that she could actually afford all she bought.

"Do you have a problem with my purchases… Carter?" she asked, making a show of checking his name tag. She cocked her head to the side in a slightly put off manner, one hand on her hip. It was a defiant pose, for sure.

Carter's face turned red as a tomato. "Uh! No! I apologize Miss…"

Sam huffed, rolling her eyes and turned back to the woman behind the counter who was inputting her identity information for pick-up and charging her credit card.

"Miss Manson, your total for the Layaway is $2,341.76, and with the rest of your orders your combined total is $16,142.23…" the woman trailed off, a bit shocked at the total.

Looking behind her, Sam saw Carter was paused in the doorway, looking shocked as well. Sam grinned internally, feeling a bit unlike herself, wanting to put them to shame for assuming she couldn't afford what she wanted, merely because she was _Goth._

Gritting her teeth momentarily, muttering, _"Stereotypeists…"_ Sam waved her hand in a dismissive manner, sighing.

"Ah, well. That certainly is a bummer." Sam said, noticing Carter look a little smug, thinking he was right. Chuckling inside, she continued, anticipating his soon to be bruised ego, "That's $30,000 less than I planned on…" she trailed off, watching both of their faces look so utterly shocked it was _comical._ "Oh, well, it'll have to do! You're mall has great sales, I can say that much!"

Giggling, Sam grinned at the woman, seeing her nametag for the first time read, Margie.

"Just charge it, if you would, Margie. I must head back home, it is getting much too late for me. My fiancée is most likely worried sick! We have an early flight you know; he's taking me to his winter home in Prague." She sighed dreamily.

If the she and Carter looked stunned before, they looked completely blown away now.

"Who-who are you, really?" Margie stuttered.

Smiling sweetly, Sam waved her hand in the air again.

"Oh, no one of consequence… yet." Grinning, she pretended to recall something. "Oh! The items will be picked up by my personal chauffeur, Marcus Bates. Make a note of that please."

Snapping out of her daze, Margie, nodded quickly and tapped a few keys, making note of it. Slowly, she printed out the receipt forms, and one for Sam to sign, and handed them to her with her credit card with shaking fingers.

Sam smiled again, and signed with a flourish, handing Margie back the form.

"Good day to you both," she said, for Carter was still in the doorway. "Happy holidays!"

And trotted off with a small wave, trying her best not to burst into laughter.

She made it, though, all the way down the steps to the lower level before she couldn't hold it anymore, and bent over double in raucous laughter that seemed never ending. Leaning against the banister near the bottom to support herself, Sam started to feel funny… really funny.

Her legs suddenly felt like jelly, and her head started to pound. Her laughter immediately ceased with a gasp; she suddenly couldn't breathe very well. Latching on hand to the railing, Sam felt her legs giving under her. There was suddenly this… ripping sensation in the center of her chest, and she let go of the railing, clutching her chest with both hands and let out a piercing cry. She felt her legs totally give way and she falling… falling down the rest of the stairs as people jumped out of the way, her vision going black moments before she hit the bottom.

---

Sam felt very strange when she came too; like she expended an immense amount of energy, leaving her body achy and breathless. It was then she realized she was laying on something sort of soft… Because it certainly didn't feel like the tile that lay in the mall.

Her eyes flew open with a gasp next and she bolted upright, in the process causing her oxygen mask to go ripping off her mouth and nose. Immediately, a paramedic rushed to her side, trying to calm her down.

"What happened!?" Sam gasped, her eyes wild.

"Calm down, please, Miss Manson! You're fine now!" she said, laying Sam back down on the gurney.

"What happened?" Sam repeated, this time more calm.

"You were on the Center Stairs of the mall when you collapsed and blacked out. You were lucky that was all that happened, and it was just before the mass chaos broke out! It's certainly a miracle that you weren't trampled, thanks to the young man who got you out."

"What? Mass chaos? What happened?"

The paramedic frowned, unsure. "We're… not clear on that, really. There are many crazy stories going around, that's for sure. I'll believe it when I see the security tapes."

"Huh? Believe what?" Sam was thoroughly confused.

"Apparently, people are saying some sort of… sorceress, ghost-like thing appeared in the middle of the mall not far from you and just started going berserk on everyone. We're lucky no one was killed; only a few injuries from those who couldn't get out of the way fast enough."

Sam's eyes widened in shock.

_A… ghost? Here in Chicago? But, why? Is there another Portal nearby… or, were they… after me?_ Sam had no clue, but she had to find out.

Ripping the monitor clips from her, Sam jumped off the gurney and threw open the doors of the ambulance she was in and rushed out into the parking lot of the mall, only to see many different news crews here and there, and many other paramedic groups, tending to people.

It was then, that Sam saw the gaping hole in the front, center of the mall. She was speechless.

_No ghost I know is powerful enough to do all this... So, who-?_

"Miss!" she heard the paramedic call frantically over to her, and rushed to her side, trying to force her back into the ambulance. But Sam wouldn't have it. Ripping her arm from the woman's, her gaze fell upon a TV screen in a news van close by with a woman newscaster standing a bit off to side, talking into her microphone in front of a camera.

"And here are some newly released bystander videos of this peculiar event," she was saying, but Sam's attention was glued to the screen.

She saw a rush of bodies running, and some screaming and sounds of panic. Then, the culprit came into the shot, floating high in the air… and Sam was speechless once again.

It was a ghost alright.

It was a she, too. She had stark white hair tied up in a long ponytail with jagged front bangs hanging loose up front with the tips of her bangs and ponytail were colored a deep purple. Her eyes were the signature ghostly green, but her lips were colored with the same purple as her hair tips. She had two dark purple tattoo-like symbols around the edge of her left eye. They vaguely resembled a tribal, Celtic pattern. She was wearing a tight fitted black bandeau over her chest with a white insignia in the center. It was a two-lined letter "L" with a "S" interlocking it's bottom portion. Positioned in a lopsided fashion to the upper right of the two interlocking letters was the outline of a three-pronged crown. A short shirt of the same black as her bandeau hung low on her hips, with a longer, thick, rectangular piece hanging in the middle that reached down a little past her knees. The same Celtic pattern adorned this piece at the bottom of the fabric in a half-diamond pattern, colored in alternating white and deep purple. She had black, strappy heels on her feet with a long lace cris-crossed up each her calves halfway. She also had one long fingerless black glove on her right arm, a deep purple jewel set into the top of her hand.

Sam watched, now, as this… somehow strangely familiar ghost… began to power up and damage the mall with purple ectoblasts from her palms, screeching in some strange language at the fleeing humans below. Just as the human who was taking the video began to run as well, the ghost threw two last ectoblasts at the walls to either side of her, before… _two circular white beams of lights appeared in her middle; one traveling upwards and one down until she completely disappeared, leaving empty air in her wake._

Sam gasped at this ending of the video… because it was so familiar. This was how Danny changed to and fro Phantom… except, this time, no human was there in the ghosts place.

Sam frowned.

This was strange, very strange… and she needed to get home to report to Danny and Tucker, who might know by now, if it's reached the Amity Park news.

But, before she could do that… she needed to call Marcus for a lift home.

Pulling out her phone, she quickly froze… stunned at the time. _7:36pm…_ an hour after the party had started… and there were over 17 voicemails.

_Oh, god… my parents are going to kill me._

---

**Authors Note: yay! First chapter finished! And the plot is taking form! YAYAYAYAY! I'm really excited how this came out… really, I am (though it was painfully long!). So, please if you liked it and want more… REVIEW!!! Is that too much to ask in order for me to update sooner? It'll give me extra incentive if I get… let's say, 5 reviews by tomorrow? PLEASE?!**

**At least consider it. XP**

**-listenWITHyourHEART;; Cassidi**


	3. Bothersome Party and Culprit Suspicions

The Moments I Forgot

-a Danny Phantom fic-

By, listenWITHyourHEART

**Disclaimed**

SUMMARY: This is the story of Sam Manson, best known as a Goth, ultra-recyclo-vegetarian and best friend to Tucker Foley and Danny Fenton; less known as one of the three humans who knew the secret of the town's Ghost Boy. And even less known to be a halfa like Danny. In fact, even she doesn't know of her other life. And eventually, the blank periods in her memory start causing questions to arise, that only Luna Specter can answer. Slightly AU. DxS

Two;; Insignificant But Bothersome Party and Culprit Suspicions

Well, speaking in literal terms, Sam's parent's did not kill her; she was quite shocked by their reaction, to say the least:_ they actually acted like they were worried if she was okay_. Which, Sam only realized later that night, as she lay in bed, was only for the benefit of the guests at the party. _They have to keep up an image, right?_ She thought, a bit bitterly, but was used to their flip-flopping personalities by now.

Marcus and Julie, however, expressed genuine emotions, as always. Secretly, Sam viewed her family's butler and maid as her real parents, in the sense that they filled the emotional and caring quota of the title, whereas her biological parents, sadly fell (very) short of the mark.

Marcus was there to pick her up in record time – and Sam suspected he broke several driving laws (speed, safety and directional most likely) in the process – and immediately started fussing over her health, asking the female paramedic she had stayed with until he arrived many questions and demanding her health analysis of Sam while she was under her care to be sent to Sam's regular doctor – Doctor Hentawitz – immediately. After the paramedic, whose name was Greta, took the business card-sized instructions from Marcus, she remarked to Sam while he left for a moment to get release from the police handling the scene, that he 'was quite the protective father'. Sam sadly corrected her – because she wasn't one to encourage or ignore a misconception (the one about her identity in the mall earlier didn't count, because she was just joking around) – saying, 'Hah, the world would end catastrophically if my father acted like that; personally, my father would do well to take parenting lessons from my butler, there'. It was sad how shocked this information made Greta, but Sam was carted away by Marcus and a police officer a moment later, before the paramedic could say anything else.

However, Marcus's concerned emotions soon blended seamlessly into a lecture on how she _'always managed to find the most dangerous situations and dive headfirst into them regardless'_. Sam had just smiled her amused smile and patted Marcus's shoulder as he drove back to Amity Park, saying simply, 'I know, Marcus; thanks for caring'.

But… once she was home and past her parents and all the guests, Julie was a whole 'nother thing entirely. Julie was of half-German decent, and spoke it fluently, which on occasion slipped into her English tirades and tantrums regarding Sam's well-being. In Julie's eyes, 'well-being' was a… very… _vast encompassing_ word. It basically meant anything from Sam's eating habits (which Julie had no qualms with) to her clothing choices (also not a problem, though it was a slight discomfort to her, because she had to listen to Pamela Manson's often-daily bemoans of Sam's 'anti-feministic attire'); to her school work (not a problem also; Sam was top of her class, even with all her… uh, _after-school_ – and sometimes during – activities… that Julie wasn't totally clear on exactly what they were, half the time. Sam made up plausible excuses, however false, but kept them safely vague at points so she wouldn't suspect she was hunting ghosts on the side… that wouldn't go over well _at all_) and her friends (basically just entailing Danny, Tucker, sometimes Jazz and/or Valerie on occasion). Most of Julie's frets and worries were pointless, as Sam tried to point out a lot, though it didn't sink in. Julie just cared for Sam; simple as that.

So, once Sam was able to successfully escape upstairs to her room, Julie was lying in wait for her. She had just barely shut her door before Julie was upon her, fussing almost to the point of tears over her physical well-being.

Julie took one look at Sam's slightly banged-up form and almost lost it.

"Is it completely _beyond you_ Miss Samantha to take care of yourself?! You'd think you go _looking_ for danger with the way it always seems to happen! Why just last week – that awful – "

Sam smiled fondly at Julie and grabbed her in a tight enough hug that wouldn't hurt her bruised ribs, so to quiet her fussing.

Julie sighed, pulling away from Sam only to hold her shoulders at arms length away.

"Alright then you little danger-magnet, get cleaned up; your parents still expect you to attend dinner, however late, and at least an hour of the party afterwards…" she trailed off, obviously disapproving of this requirement upon one look at Sam's slight injuries (which to her might as well have been near-fatal). "Your outfit is hanging in your closet. Buzz if you need anything."

Once Julie had left the room Sam had finally been able to drop her 'I'm fine, really!' act she had held up since Marcus had picked her up. It was exhausting her even more than she already was. She had no idea how she was still awake, let alone standing. She felt like she had been run over (multiple times) by a steamroller on the freeway. She was drained of energy and just wanted to _sleep_. Curse her parents for their 'demand' of her appearance at their bi-weekly cocktail party and formal dinner.

So, slowly and grudgingly, Sam made her way into her bedroom's adjoining bathroom and into she shower, careful to keep her one gauze-wrapped hand out of the water.

Sam wasn't hurt badly, however. She just had a few deep scratches on her palm and her knuckles were scrapped raw on her one hand, she had a small cut above her left temple that was covered with a small strip of gauze as well. The back of her head was tender, and she had few bruises here and there, and a few very small, almost insignificant cuts. These she suspected was from her collapsing and falling down the stairs. Her hand, however, she was confused how _that_ happened; it had to have happened in the chaos and panic of the ghost that appeared, she assumed.

After cleaning her slightly dirty and sweaty face, arms and legs, Sam quickly got dressed in the _appalling_ dress her parents picked for her. Sam chuckled at herself for that adjective, for it was merely described as such because it was just simply… a dress. It's style and color was not horrific however; in fact, Sam liked it (very slightly). It was a deep, almost black purple short strapless number. It had a sweetheart neckline, an empire waist, and the bottom of the dress was very soft and billowy and reached just above her knees.

Sam pulled her hair, which had grown quite a lot since she had last cut it – it was almost to her collarbone now – up high on her head in a tight, clean and crisp bun with a long ribbon of matching color as the dress tied around it. She put on simple pearl earrings and necklace, and slipped on her black heels, just as Julie knocked on her door.

Once Sam called for her to enter and she had shut the door behind her, Julie looked quite shocked at Sam's appearance.

"Wow, Miss Samantha… you look stunning," Julie breathed in admiration. Then, she chuckled. "And you actually finished before I came back for you!"

Sam had blushed, with a slight frown, for she hadn't taken a look at herself in the mirror with everything on. Turning back to her bathroom, Sam was quite shocked by her look as Julie had been. She didn't look like the Gothic, slightly rebellious Sam she normally did; she looked… elegant and refined. It was quite unnerving, but Sam had to admit she liked it.

As Sam reentered her bedroom, she was quickly caught off guard by the flash of a camera going off. She glared at Julie after the fact, who just shrugged and said,

"This might not happen again. I want to have a reminder."

At that, Sam just sighed, then said with malice,

"If Tucker get's a hold of that picture…"

Julie just laughed.

"Mr. Foley won't know of a thing," and she set the camera on the bedstand, ushering Sam out of her room and downstairs to the party.

---

The party and dinner all-in-all, could have gone worse by past experiences to base this one on.

Apart from the initial shock at her appearance (which Sam wished they would at least _act_ like it wasn't so shocking, God!), her parent's friends mostly left her to herself to mingle around the ground floor of her home. She chatted with a few of the people she actually knew by name, and some of their children – around her age – were also in attendance. A few asked about her hand and forehead – still gauzed – and the small, now-forming bruises. Sam just said she was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time that day, not really in the mood to elaborate with the truth. They wouldn't understand, or they would completely overreact. Besides, it's not like she cared about these people's views on the matter; they were there merely for the food and entertainment her parents provided. They didn't really care either.

_Bunch of fake, pompous, rich idiots…_ Sam thought multiple times that night.

At least at dinner, her parents gave her a vegetarian dish, which was a plus.

The second the hour at the party after dinner was over, Sam had bolted, half-assing her excuses, back up to her room to collapse delightfully onto her bed, fully clothed. She was way past the point of exhaustion to be able to change. In moments she was out.

To Sam's ultimate distress and anger, she was woken a mere three hours later, by a loud beeping and buzzing not far from her ear. Restraining the almost uncontrollable urge to scream and throw her phone across the room, she knew she had to answer. That beeping sequence was the Team Phantom tone; she had forgotten about patrol tonight… and about telling Danny and Tucker about the events in Chicago earlier that day.

_Or, yesterday, technically_, Sam mused, noting it was a little after midnight, before answering the phone.

"'ello?" she groaned, her voice thick with sleep and still apparent exhaustion.

"Sam! Where are you? You were supposed to meet me and Tucker at the park an hour ago!" came Danny's voice.

Sam groaned in response.

"How could you forget abo - " Danny had begun to say, but Sam cut him off.

"Danny, just shut up okay?" she said, harsh and angry. She was _so_ not in the mood after her recent experiences.

There was stunned silence on the other line. Sam faintly heard Tucker ask what was the matter.

"Just get Tucker and yourself over to my place, pronto. I'll explain everything, okay? Get in as Phantom, okay? My room. I'll make sure Julie and Marcus won't check on me… which they are bound to do after today…"

"What happened today?" came Danny's response, a little confused; it had a slight worried edge to it as well.

"Just get over here."

With that Sam ended the call, flopping back down on her bed, groaning something terrible. She laid there for a moment before _almost literally_ dragging herself upright, and over to her room's intercom system to page Marcus, who'd be easier to get the message of 'please don't bother me for _any_ reason tonight, and don't wake me until at _least_ noon tomorrow'. He grudgingly obliged, and relayed the message to Julie, but made Sam promise she'd call immediately if she needed _anything_. She promised.

Sam went back to her bed, resting her head back on her headboard softly, curling her legs underneath her and pulling off the heels. A few moments, later, Danny phased through her bedroom wall, Tucker in his arms. They touched down, became tangible once more, and Danny switched back to Fenton from Phantom.

Danny and Tucker didn't speak for a minute, taking in the distressed and complete _wreck_ façade Sam was in currently. Danny looked very concerned about her obvious – however slight – injuries and exhausted body. Tucker, however, being _Tucker_, saw those too, but focused on her attire… of course.

He was the first to speak… in a quite confused, shocked and bemused voice.

"What's with the regal getup Sam? Where's the party?"

Sam knew it wasn't intentionally clueless; she suspected it was half-said as a way to dum-down her _wreck_ of a form, currently.

Sam really wasn't in the mood, unfortunately, to play along.

"Downstairs," she deadpanned.

There was a brief silence once more, before Danny spoke this time.

"What happened to you, Sam?"

She sighed, so tired once more, and really didn't want to storytell, but it had to be done.

"Long story. You guys better get confortable."

Sam launched into her telling, briefly saying why she was in Chicago, and completely avoiding the topic of what she bought – despite Tucker trying to get a word in about that (he has to patience and his curiosity will be the end of him one day) – instead jumping to when she blacked out, and what she saw on the TV once she came to.

Danny looked completely shocked and a bit unsettled. Tucker wasn't better; he was worse, actually.

But, it was Sam who had a revelation as soon as she finished.

Gasping, and throwing a hand to her mouth, she cried,

"What if she's another halfa, Danny? She looked way too human to me to be pure ghost."

Tucker fell off the desk chair he was currently occupying at this.

"What!?" he cried, hitting the floor hard with a groan. "How?"

Danny's eyes narrowed and he stared straight at Sam. He said one word, that right then, seemed like a valid explanation

"Vlad."

---

**Authors Note: wow! I'm just cranking them out aren't I? I want to thank my… four… reviewers, however: my first! **_Serial-Doodler_; **then…**_ cookaberra; MsTaeddy; _and_ Arcy911913. _**Thank you guys so much! And if you can try to get the word out about my story, I'd seriously love you all even more! I want to thank those who also ALERTED and FAVORITED, too, though I wish you could review too. I'm feeling unloved and that this story isn't good… and I know I said I wanted five reviews for the last chappie before I updated, but I'm feeling really generous and I want to post this up anyway. BUT PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW!!!**

**-listenWITHyourHEART;; Cassidi**


	4. Haunting Dreams and a Newfound Hobby

_The Moments I Forgot_

-a Danny Phantom fic-

By, listenWITHyourHEART

**Disclaimed**

SUMMARY: This is the story of Sam Manson, best known as a Goth, ultra-recyclo-vegetarian and best friend to Tucker Foley and Danny Fenton; less known as one of the three humans who knew the secret of the town's Ghost Boy. And even less known to be a halfa like Danny. In fact, even she doesn't know of her other life. And eventually, the blank periods in her memory start causing questions to arise, that only Luna Specter can answer. Slightly AU. DxS

Three;; Haunting Dreams and a Newfound Hobby

They were silent for a long moment; Danny had said that with such finality, that neither Tucker, nor Sam even doubted him. It still didn't explain…

"Why, though? And who is this halfa? What was she _doing_ at the mall? She didn't seem to be after anyone… well, if I hadn't passed out I might've seen something…"

Tucker nodded slowly.

"Yeah, many good questions we need answers to…" he mumbled, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

Danny didn't seem to hear him; at Sam's last sentence, he whipped his head back up from staring at his hands with a frown, to instead stare at Sam with a worried and bewildered expression.

This did not go unnoticed by Sam, however.

"What, Danny?" she asked, a bit frustrated by his expression, but it was faint in her voice; pure exhaustion coated her words instead.

His gaze softened slightly, but enough for Sam to notice and be confused. But before she could say anything, Danny spoke instead.

"How are you feeling?" and upon seeing Sam's expression the second those words left his mouth, he winced. _Dense idiot!_ He scolded himself in the split second before Sam lashed out with angry words.

"You're an _imbecile_ Danny Fenton!" she cried, jumping up off her bed, hands balled into fists at her sides. "How do you think I'm _feeling?_ I feel like I've been run over by – no, not even a tractor trailer! That's millions of tons too light! – how about the whole _dang solar system?!_ I am so tired right now, I ache all over and – " she cut herself off, feeling… very strange.

Wobbling slightly on her already aching feet, Sam clutched her head tightly, hissing in sudden pain; it felt like a horrible brain freeze, but a thousand times worse. Heart thudding in her chest and her breathing labored, Sam saw white spots behind her eyelids before she swayed farther, losing her balance completely.

She waited, but didn't feel the impact of her bedroom floor. Instead, she felt two very cold arms catch and encircle her, crying out her name.

She groaned, and the pain began to fade; slowly at first, then rapidly until it was gone mere moments later. Finally she pulled her fingers away from where they were clutching her skull, and winced heavily at the sharp pinching and burning she felt on her injured hand. She opened her eyes then, and stared up into the green orbs of Phantom.

"Sam?" he asked, concern and a bit of fear etched across his ghostly features.

Tucker then appeared in her vision, right next to Danny's head, his face also worried.

"I don't know what happened… but it's gone now. I'm… fine," Sam managed to croak out, her voice scratchy.

Slowly, she pulled herself out of Danny's grip (however much she didn't want to…) and stood upright next to her bed. Before either of her two best friends could ask the question she knew was coming, she spoke.

"I have a doctor's appointment eight am Monday morning. I'll know if anything's wrong then."

It was true; Marcus had made the appointment in the car ride home, wanting a full, expert and trusted opinion on what caused Sam to collapse in the first place.

Tucker visibly relaxed, but Danny still looked uneasy. He stared at her, and it was then Sam realized that his arms were still in the position of holding her. She looked down at them, and Danny flinched, dropping them to his sides.

"You sure you'll be okay tonight, Sam?" Danny asked. "You don't want one of us to stay?"

Tucker immediately protested this offer.

"No way dude! You can offer to stay with her, but _I_ have plans, seven am tomorrow morning! Which means I only have…" he pulled out his PDA and openly blanched at the time it displayed.

"_Four hours of sleep!?"_ he cried, agast. "Dude, get me home! My mom will _kill_ me if I'm not there with everyone to pick up Great-Aunt Betty!"

Danny sighed, fixing Tucker with a dark glare for a moment, which caused him to apologize to Sam.

"Sorry, Sam; I can't help this one."

Exhaustion was slowly taking over, so Sam merely nodded, slurring out,

"It's okay, Tucker. I get it; see you Monday at school…"

Danny took one look at Sam, curling back down on her bed, head on the pillows, and her eyes drifting closed, before grabbing Tucker and phasing them through her wall, and flying Tucker home.

Sam was out before he was a block away.

---

At first, the sleep that enveloped Sam's mind was calm, tranquil… but full of darkness. The darkness then, however, was not a malevolent darkness. It was merely just there as the only substitute for light. But, just as soon as Sam's mind was lulling into the peace of a dreamless sleep, it was roughly snatched from her grasp, replaced with a fiendish nightmare, enhancing her reality of earlier yesterday.

It was abrupt to start; there was no prequel to the madness that ensued the vision. In it, Sam was at the mall in Chicago, walking down the stairs with a small smile on her face before it erupted into uncontrollable laughter.

It was then, Sam realized, she wasn't in the point of view as the person _living_ the dream, more so as the person merely observing the happenings within. Sam's consciousness floated high above the scene below her, unable to move; only to watch and listen.

As she watched, her face below became abruptly blank and she stopped laughing with a jolt. Moments later, she watched as pain and confusion overtook the expression on her face, and she clutched her chest in agony, legs wobbling below her.

The watching-Sam, felt what her dream-self was feeling, and what she had felt for real when this had occurred. She felt that horrible ripping sensation deep within her chest; she felt the lightheadedness; the vertigo and weakness. Only this time, within the dream, it felt heightened… intensified. But the watching-Sam could do nothing for her dream-self, or her watching-self; she was rooted to the spot, unable to move, unable to cry out.

Helpless… just to watch.

The watching-Sam realized despite the agony within her, that people around her were noticing she was in pain. A few people paused around her, those who were climbing the stairs, and once Sam started to collapse, a cry of horror went out from those nearby.

She even faintly heard someone cry out for someone to call 911; she realized it was the red-headed woman to had put her hand out to her, moments before she fell. No one however, could stop her from tumbling down the steps, and she took out another younger woman and her companion with her. They were unhurt, though. Just a little startled. But once they realized that the dream-self Sam wasn't moving, did they immediately crawl to her, and try and help.

Three people nearby were on their cell phones, and Sam saw an older woman dragging a nearby security guard to the scene. Just as he kneeled beside her prone form, ear-splitting screams erupted from farther down the mall and people started running in fear from the scene they saw.

The watching-Sam had turned, lightning-fast, as the first scream had started to form; her watching-self knew that the appearance of the ghost was soon to happen.

As she looked, she was just in time, to see the ghost appear.

And she did so in a manner that left the watching-Sam completely bewildered and confused.

For just as the way the ghost had disappeared on the footage later, she came into sight with those two rings of white light. To the watching-Sam, she compared her appearance like that of a hologram being loaded up into being. The two rings started as one in her middle, and then split into the two, moving one up, and the other down; as they moved, the ghost-girl took form.

Once she was fully erected, and the white rings disappeared, the ghost sprang into an angry, defensive, attack mode, while hovering where she took form. She just seemed to lose it; she screamed an awful sound, and watching-Sam realized in horror that it was similar to Danny's Ghostly Wail, but it didn't just send out shock-waves in the direction the ghosts mouth was aimed. It more or less just radiated out from her in every direction, causing chaos to increase at the quaking of the walls and floors; some of the nearby shops windows cracked and one closest to her, shattered.

After her god-awful wail, she only seemed to lose it more. She began to scream out words that Sam couldn't understand… it was in some language she had never heard of. But, the tone she was using sounded pissed, angry and vengeful.

"Coom trela montegri! Hootsapra aspentapa! Se fee Luna Specter! Belak jeman kelassa! Itenat! Itenat!"

The ghost began to twist around in the air, her eyes wild, and shot purple ectoblasts from her open palms in many directions. She didn't seem to have any target at all; she just fired at whatever: the walls, the floors, the shops, the benches in the walkway… and then into the fleeing crowd.

In the midst of watching the unknown, dangerous ghost, watching-Sam had forgotten about her dream-self, laying helpless on the ground not too far away. So when she turned back to where she was last, she saw a young man and another girl stop and grab her from the ground where she was to be trampled, and held her between them while racing outside to safety.

The watching-Sam felt her eyes and unmoving form follow her dream-self away from the ghost until they were outside, and a paramedic had rushed over – Greta, it was – and took the dream-Sam away on a gurney and into an ambulance. It was only when the doors shut behind them, was there another ear-splitting scream from the mall behind them, just before the front of the mall exploded out from the shockwaves of the ghosts last Wail.

Then, everything faded to black once more… until Sam felt a presence in the darkness.

A second after a flash of light illuminated from behind her, Sam whipped around to see – the ghost!?

Before the now-dream-Sam could cry out, or run, the ghost spoke. Sam still heard the strange language she used before, but this time… she understood.

"_I have been dormant in sleep for far too long… it is time for Luna Specter to take over… and make herself known…"_ she said in a chilling, accurately ghostly voice, that left the dream-Sam… and the sleeping-Sam in the real world, shaking in fright.

The ghost began to laugh; a horrible, evil laugh, and sprang at Sam, arms outstretched as if to close around her neck.

Sam closed her eyes, throwing up her arms to shield her face –

Only to shoot up in bed, gasping for breath… and realizing it was just a dream.

Sam knew she'd never fall back asleep after _that_ disaster without help (also noting that it was only eight am… curse the world!). And she was still so _God dang tired_, if only the tiniest bit less so than before waking. So, she stumbled over to her bathroom, eyes squinting against the harsh artificial light and over to her medicine cabinet. Fumbling around inside, she grabbed a bottle of NyQuil, and took the regular dose she'd take if she was under the impression of a cold.

She hobbled back to her bed, the medicine taking its toll only minutes later.

And again she was back in the welcoming arms of a dreamless sleep.

---

She woke up later, much, _much_ more relaxed and had most of her energy back, though she still felt achy and miserable, no matter how much the sleep helped.

Groaning, Sam rolled over to stare at her clock, and let out a shriek at the time.

Jumping out of bed with speed Sam didn't know she possessed, she was over to her intercom in a flash, pushing the page button for Marcus. He answered immediately.

"Miss Manson? Is something the matter?" his voice sounded a bit surprised to hear her page, and it dripped with concern.

"It's almost dinnertime Marcus! Why did you let me sleep that long!?"

Sam wasn't ready for his response… which was _chuckling._

"I tried to rouse you four hours ago Miss Manson; but upon failing and further inspection, I came across your very obvious NyQuil dosage. I figured you only did that because you desperately needed it. I left you alone to sleep in peace; you needed every hour of that sleep, I'm positive."

Sam groaned in response, letting him hear her, then asked what she dearly didn't want to:

"My parents?"

She was responded with _more chuckling._ Much to her annoyance.

"They are out golfing for the day; should be back around nine. They said they were expecting to dine out this evening. Julie has a salad made up for you down in the kitchen if you're hungry."

Sighing, and realizing she was _famished_, Sam replied she was and that she'd be down for it within the hour.

But first things first: she was still in her party dress from the night before, and _desperately_ desired another shower after laying in a sweaty bed all day, no matter the cold weather outside.

Sam made her way into her bathroom and paused at the long mirror behind the sink. Frowning, Sam leaned closer to her reflection, her eyes focused on her skin by the corner of her left eye… but it was unblemished and certainly not a purple-forming bruise, for when she gently placed her finger to it, it did not throb or be tender to the slightest touch, as a bruise would.

Shaking her head and leaning back away from the mirror, Sam chided herself.

"I'm losing it…" but just as she took a step towards her shower, she paused, furrowing her brow. "But, I was_ sure_ I saw some purple markings there…" then trailed off, thoughtfully. But, almost as soon as those words left her mouth, she realized how crazy they sounded. "I am totally suffering from some sort of Hypnagogia hallucination… and damn Jazz for her sleep disorder research phase!"

So, shaking her head – and thinking murderous thoughts about Jazz for unknowingly integrating her psychology-mumbo-jumbo in her mind – Sam quickly undressed and unpinned what was left of her bun that was still in place. She turned on the water, then went over to her sound system control panel in the wall by her towel-shelving unit, and booted up the sensor system to sync with her computer and play her music library. Smiling at how jealous Tucker and Danny would be at this little piece of technology – just installed last week – she selected Shuffle on the touch screen, and grinned at the song selected: _Breakin'_ by the All-American Rejects, one of her favorite songs. Once the water of her shower was the warm she preferred, Sam stepped in, happily singing along.

"_Hold on tight / wrap your arms around me 'till your knuckles are burning white / all your tears / couldn't match the bitter taste of all these wasted years… in a clear view there's a silhouette / and I watch you and I can't forget / knew we were done when you locked that door / yeah, I figured it out now breaking's what the heart is for…"_

All too soon, Sam let the last note of the song fade away, and finished with her shower after _Into the Ocean_ by, Blue October and _Ain't No Rest For the Wicked_ by, Cage the Elephant. She turned off the water and pulled a towel around her slim, but more curvy and womanly body than back when she was a freshman. She certainly filled out, though she far from showed it off, or even accentuated it with her clothing. She tended to hide it, actually, with her baggy Goth-style clothes.

As Sam stepped up to the fogged up mirror and wiped away a circle of condensation with her hand, Sam… basically had an epiphany: maybe the reason Danny held not interest in her as a _girl_, was because she basically didn't _look like one._ Sam frowned for a moment at this revelation, but that soon melted into a snarky grin.

Sam spun on her heel and walked out of the bathroom with her towel clutched tightly around her, and went across her bedroom into her… uh, inappropriately _huge_ walk-in closet. Usually, Sam only went – at the most – ten feet in. That's where she kept all the clothes she usually wore: the black baggy band-tees, the black cargo pants and safety-pinned skirts and jackets. Not to mention her several pairs of combat boots. But, the rest of the closet was basically unexplored territory. One she had vehemently refused to venture into… before now. But, now Sam realized soon Danny, her – and Tucker, too – would be getting their college acceptance letters – and possibly rejections, as well – which meant if Sam got into Brown, and Danny got into Regis in California and Tucker MIT… their days together really would be numbered. And Sam knew she needed to steel her resolve and _get moving_ on the Danny plus her feelings front. She didn't have much time left, and even though just the thought of telling him how she felt just about left her hyperventilating – something that was _so far from Sam_ – she knew she couldn't bear to lose him if she had the chance not to.

So, first things first: catch his attention.

And since there was – _and may still be; check with Tucker_ – a longtime crush on Paulina Sanchez and a fling with Valerie Grey, Sam knew that girls that at least _looked like_ their gender, caught his eye. _Seriously, duh, Sam._ Danny is a hormone-crazed teenage boy; it astounds Sam still – and most likely more so Jazz – that he didn't turn into _Tucker_ – a freaking skirt-chasing cad – once he realized all his ghost-hunting escapades gave him a _body_, and that he wasn't the geeky terribly-unpopular nerd he was freshman year. _That_ label was gone by the middle of sophomore year – way gone. Sam seriously didn't get it; why did he not have a girlfriend?

Then, it hit her like a ton of _idiotic bricks_: Danny Phantom. Ghost-hunting. Hero-duties. _Duh._ Sometimes he barely had time for her and Tucker, and his school-work? Hah! That's a joke. The only way Danny would bet getting into Regis was his SAT score – very good, with the combined help of her and Tucker _and _Jazz – and Sam doing some of his assignments for him on occasion he couldn't get done due to the ghost-problem.

Oh, come on. Sam wasn't going to let him _flunk_ or _not graduate._ After all, it was basically her fault he became half-ghost anyway.

But, now, as Sam took that tentative first step farther into her closet, she hoped that she'd stand a chance. But, once she flipped on the other light, she smiled. _Oh, yes. These clothes were girly enough to catch Danny's eye._

Scanning the racks and hangers – cringing a bit at all the _pink_ – Sam steeled herself. She would certainly not do a total about-face with her fashion choices, but she'd certainly improve it with more… flattering… pieces. And, Sam had to hand it to her mom: some of these were close to her usual tastes. They weren't so horrifically _pink, girly and frilly_. Some were even a little edgy. There were actually – and Sam was quite shocked at this – a lot of clothes she liked. Mostly the ones that had the vintage edge to them.

So, Sam pulled out a few shirts, jeans, skirts, blouses and shoes out in her arms with a few trips and threw them on her king-sized bed. Throwing on her bra and panties, she pulled up her hair into a high ponytail and began to try some of the things on.

Now, some Sam immediately saw were too girly on her. But, instead of throwing them aside as she almost did – she got an idea: how about improve them a bit more to her usual taste? You know, tinker with the designs?

And, about two hours later, the result Sam had before her was a completely updated wardrobe… well, just those few pieces she had chosen. There were _tons upon tons_ of other shirts and the like in the depths of her newly discovered closet.

Smiling, Sam decided she found a new hobby.

She was just putting the improved and tweaked clothes in the newly cleared section of her closet next to her old clothes, and wearing the last thing she had tried on: a black blouse-vest combo. It was originally this frilly silk thing, but Sam found this vest in her old stuff and just added it on top and it worked. For the bottom she was wearing a black-laced tiered skirt that came down just past her knees. She added a deep purple raggedy scarf to add some color to the overall black ensemble. She rather liked this one.

So, just as she placed the last shirt on its hanger and hung it up, her intercom buzzed loudly in her room behind her.

Sam went to it, confused on who it was, and heard Marcus sounding very worried.

"Marcus? What's up?"

"Miss Manson, what happened? You said you'd be down for dinner almost two hours ago! It's nearly eight pm!"

And with a quick glance at the clock on her wall, Sam realized that it was; time had literally flew by without her realizing it.

"I'm sorry Marcus. I got a bit carried away in my closet." She said in reply.

What she heard was a loud bang and a clatter, then there was silence.

"Marcus?" Sam asked, pushing the intercom button, afraid something had happened.

The next second, there was frantic banging on her door and Marcus calling out to her.

Even more confused, Sam closed the few paces to it and unlocked the door, throwing it open. Marcus stood there, his face red and out of breath.

"Marcus are you okay?" Sam asked, worry evident on her face now.

Hid expression however, was one of shock. He was staring at her outfit with open awe. And then it all made sense to Sam.

"Yes, Marcus. I am wearing this. And no, I have not gone crazy. Nor have I been replaced with a robot, alter-clone or alien. I am merely trying new things." She had to stop herself from laughing the whole time. She didn't know this little change in fashion sense would elicit such strong reactions. It was downright _comical._

"You sure you didn't hit your head harder than we thought?" he asked in a voice that was still shocked.

"Yes, Marcus. I'll be down for my dinner now. Move, move." Sam said while grabbing her phone off her bedside table and then leaving her bedroom and heading down to the kitchen to _devour_ her salad. If she was _ravishing_ two hours before, her stomach just might have begun to eat itself now.

Just as she was sitting down at the island in her kitchen, lathering her garden salad with ranch dressing, her cell phone next to her _pinged!_ alerting her of a new text message.

Frowning, Sam flipped it open and saw it was from Danny.

_Fr: Danny_

_Are you seriously wearing clothes your mom picked willingly?!_

Sam almost laughed out loud. Marcus must've messaged him, probably still worried something was wrong with me.

_To: Danny_

_Yes, but with some changes to them. Don't worry Danny; I haven't lost it. Marcus is just paranoid. :P_

She sent that and ate some of her salad before Danny responded a minute later.

_Fr: Danny_

_I will believe this when I see it_

And at that, Sam did laugh.

_To: Danny_

_Oh, so you don't believe my completely fine mental state either? Fine, I accept the challenge. _

A moment later she got a reply.

_Fr: Danny_

_What challenge?_

She just ignored that and responded instead with:

_To: Danny_

_Where are you right now?_

This reply was fast as well.

_Fr: Danny_

_The Nasty Burger with Tucker. Why? What's going on?_

Perfect, Sam thought with glee. She hastily replied,

_To: Danny_

_You'll find out soon enough._

She quickly finished off her salad and put the dishes in the sink. Rushing upstairs, Sam quickly began to polish off her look. She added a few colorful bangles to one wrist, and a black faux-leather fingerless glove to the other. She poofed up the top of her hair and put it in a side ponytail. Then with a few touches of make-up: shimmery silver eyeshadow, a bit of bronzer to her cheeks, a deep red lipstick, a cat-like flair to her eyeliner and lengthened lashes, she was done.

Finally, she stepped into dark black studded, heeled ankle boots, and grabbed her phone and house keys. With a flash she was out the door with a call to Marcus on her way out that she was going to meet Danny.

And all the while, a small, tell-tale smirk played on her lips; it was now or never to wow Danny. And she had a good feeling about it.

---

**Authors Note: Okay, so over 4,330 words to this ONE CHAPTER. That's over 1,000 more than any of the others. Wow. I literally had to **_**rip my hands away**_** from the keyboard and force myself to cut it off and write a dang A/N. It was getting way too long. So, yeah a bit about this chapter:**

**I wanted to add a little bit of…**_** normalcy**_** in here. I didn't want it to focus only on the ghost-hunting aspect of it and this new mystery female halfa (mystery to you guys! Hah!). Don't forget, Sam, Danny and Tucker are still teenagers in their last year of high school. All that still goes on around the ghosts. And, OF COURSE there has to be some Danny & Sam pairing fluff. It just has to be done.**

**But, don't think this stuff will be taking the story away from the ghost-plot! NOPE! This is just necessary for you all to get the feel of their lives now.**

**The whole dream thing will be a continued trend. And everything that has been oh so subtly hinted at so far will all make sense soon enough. Be patient my duckies!**

**OH! And I think I totally forgot to mention A VERY IMPORTANT FACT: this is happening in place of Phantom Planet; so i.e. = that never happened. Vlad is still here, Danny's secret is still secret, and Danny and Sam aren't together…. Yet. Lots will happen! So, please: ALERT;; FAVORITE;; AND MOST OF ALL: REVIEW! I love to get them! So here are thanks to those who have done so for the last chappie: **_cookaberra, xenchanting35x, MsTaeddy, Arcy911913, Flashx11 _**(the most appreciated of them all! You're the best!)**,_lifeactuallyxxX _**and** _Jen _**(anonymous reviewer). So yes! Thank you all, next chappie up ASAP!**

**-listenWITHyourHEART;; Cassidi**

**P.S. this story is going to be VERY VERY long if the way the first 4 chapters are any indication. I've only covered like... not even 2 days with over 10,000 words! ACK! Hope you'll all still read it! ... heh 5,150 **


	5. Attack at the Nasty Burger, Again

_The Moments I Forgot_

-a Danny Phantom fic-

By, listenWITHyourHEART

**Disclaimed**

SUMMARY: This is the story of Sam Manson, best known as a Goth, ultra-recyclo-vegetarian and best friend to Tucker Foley and Danny Fenton; less known as one of the three humans who knew the secret of the town's Ghost Boy. And even less known to be a halfa like Danny. In fact, even she doesn't know of her other life. And eventually, the blank periods in her memory start causing questions to arise, that only Luna Specter can answer. Slightly AU. DxS

Four;; Attack at the Nasty Burger… Again

Sam realized – two whole blocks later – that it would be _helpful_ if she didn't show up in an attempt to "wow" Danny all sweaty, red-faced and out of breath. If she learned one thing from all her romance novels – shhh, it's a dirty little secret that she's not going to easily divulge – and all those old black and white movies, as well as the classics… was that to be noticed, you need to make an _entrance_.

And that thought basically was enough to stop Sam in her tracks once more after slowing down from her perilous run in _heels_. Because that thought was so far from Sam's personality it scared her.

Besides, she was_ dangerously_ close to the Nasty Burger… and that other little fact made her heart hammering so fast in her chest you'd think she really _had_ been running for her life. _Am I really going to do this? Really? Am I going to let my feelings be so blatantly obvious that even Danny, Captain Oblivious, will know? And leave room for Rejection to pop right in and ruin the friendship I value so much? And… if he does reject me, it's in a public place Sam! Paulina and her crowd of rich-snob suck-ups will surely see and never let me live it down…_

Then, for the _freaking third time _in Sam didn't know _how many little minutes_ – she had to stop herself and slap some sense back into the girl she know she is: the one who _doesn't care_ what _Paulina_ thinks; the fearless girl who is fed up with waiting and hoping; the girl who knows it's time to stop hiding her true feelings simply because she's _scared_. No, that was not the Sam Manson she knew.

So, with newly-restored confidence, Sam began her walk to the Nasty Burger.

But, the fact that guys seemed to not realize this was her – the 'icky Goth girl' they had all mocked so much, of Casper High – and were _mistaking her_ for some hot new girl in town. It was actually so wickedly amusing that Sam couldn't stop the grin that formed on her ruby-red lips.

So, once she reached the doors of the Nasty Burger – the cold now just getting to her, which she honestly forgot about it being _winter in freaking Illinois_ and didn't grab a jacket – she opened them gratefully and stepped into the warm fast food restaurant.

Instantly, it seemed the go a little quieter to her; at least the jocks – Dash Baxter and Kwan among them – occupying a table to her immediate right after entering, had gone silent, and were staring at her. Some in shock, because not all football jocks were dumb meatheads, but most of them looked at her in… was that – interest? Sam almost laughed out loud at the almost hungry look on their shameless testosterone-ruled facial expressions as they stared at her.

Sam saw the rest of the Nasty Burger were soon following their silence; she looked around quickly, and saw Danny and Tucker over in their usual booth by the window farther to her right, openly staring as well; and Sam could see by the look of interest on Danny's face that he didn't know this was her (sadly). Tucker, though was a little more clued in. He looked shocked then amused once she caught his eye and quickly winked. She then got a wickedly amusing idea.

Lowering her eyelashes seductively, Sam sauntered over to the jocks in a few steps.

"Hey, baby…" Dash had begun to say, trying to sound all smooth. Sam noticed with relish that Paulina and her friends were only one table over; the girl in question was looking at Dash with an offended look, then at Sam with a _bitchy_ glint in her eye. _So, they are dating. Even better._

_Oh, this is going to be epic…_ Sam laughed inside.

Sam had the purple scarf puffed up around her mouth and chin, and her eyes were coyingly downcast. So, she leaned forward into Dash, placing one palm on the chest of his jacket, then pulled the scarf down off her face and pulled up her lashes to grin at him wickedly.

"Guess who, Baxter?" she cooed, and at the horror and realization that crossed his face, she pushed off of him with one palm, that sent him falling to the floor in shock.

"Manson?!" was his very un-guy-like squeak.

The rest of the Nasty Burger was soon to follow in their shocked exclamations.

Sam just smiled, and gave Paulina and the other A-List a teasingly wiggle of her fingers, before walking over to Danny and Tucker…

Whose faces were the most priceless of all.

Tucker was shaking his head with laughter, it becoming steadily louder as she approached. His face was still a bit disbelieving, but the _hilarity_ factor was too much for him.

Danny, though… his face was something Sam wasn't expecting.

He stared open-mouthed at her… looking so utterly shocked, so at a loss, it was almost enough to make Sam laugh with Tucker… if she wasn't freaking out inside as the adrenaline from that stunt began to wear off rather fast. But, she steeled herself, and slid into the booth next to him, smiling slightly, but keeping her eyes on him still, to see if his reaction changed to something she didn't want. If so, she'd book it out of there and never show her face again. _Excellent plan…. Not._

It was only when Danny didn't seem to be recovering, and Tucker was going to die if he didn't stop laughing long enough to _breathe_, that Sam snapped.

"Alright Tucker, put a sock in it, or I _will make you_. Not that funny; seriously," she said, her words dripping annoyed sarcasm.

It was the sound of her voice that seemed to knock Danny to his senses.

"Sam…? What - ?" he choked out.

"What?" Sam said, a little annoyed. But when he didn't say anything more, just stared at her – but not open mouthed at least – she asked, blushing and becoming self-conscious. "Does it look bad? I mean I was – "

"No," Danny immediately cut her off, a smile working its way onto his face. "You look – "

And of course, the world _must have something against her._ Seriously.

Because the world took that moment for Sam to suddenly be attacked with such pain in her head that she gasped and cried out, clutching her screaming skull again. Then, she felt a familiar ripping in her chest… and it was Chicago all over again. For seconds later, she fell out of the booth, everything slipping into black.

---

The strangest thing, Sam realized later, was that she remembered everything that transpired once she blacked out.

Which, really, is impossible.

_She was unconscious._ So, yeah, knowing what happened like you were there – like you were actually conscious – was classified to _everyone_ as impossible.

That still didn't stop the fact that she _did._

To Sam, it felt like her dream. She was stuck watching above, away from the ability to act in the scene before her.

She was aware slowly at first, of this new sensation; her vision was blurry and her hearing faint. But, once Danny and Tucker screamed out her name, well… everything snapped back into place.

Sam watched as Danny cried out, and both he and Tucker rushed to her now prone form on the – disgusting – Nasty Burger tile. Then, once they reached her, and she wouldn't wake up, Danny's ghost sense went off.

Sam heard him quite audibly curse – very colorfully – at this and ordered Tucker to get her out of there. Tucker took one look at Danny's pre-battle face, before struggling to get Sam into his arms and flee the scene.

There were nearby people starting to crowd around her unconscious form, Tucker and Danny, but they all halted fast once… she appeared.

In the same fashion as before, the ghost-girl appeared hovering a bit above the tile of the Nasty Burger. She wore the expression of a cocky ego-maniac who was quite possibly psychotic… and most definitely evil. She had her arms crossed over her chest and she stared at the people screaming and scattering in all directions.

She took Danny's slight preoccupation at the chaos and Sam's helpless form to attack… in the form of her slightly different Ghostly Wail. Once let loose, it quaked the walls and cracked the tile, broke some of the windows and exploded the lights in a shower of sparks.

That was all it took for the rest of the people inside the Nasty Burger to get away, Tucker and the unconscious Sam among them. Then, once they were clear of observers, Danny pushed off some of the ceiling plaster bits stuck to his clothing, his face set in fighting mode.

"Going Ghost!" he cried, and made the transition into Phantom, moving into a fighting stance as he transformed… but he didn't quite finish.

The girl ghost, let out another cry – this not a Wail, however, just a battle-cry – and launched herself through the air to slam into Danny's midsection, crashing them through an exterior wall of the restaurant and into the parking lot outside. Without intangibility.

Once the people who had fled the scene saw Phantom, some cheered – Paulina probably the loudest, much to watching-Sam's displeasure – but then some of those nearby to Tucker and her still passed out form, cried,

"Tucker! I think Danny's still in there!" this first one happened to be from the mouth of Valerie, who was kneeling next to Sam's prone form and holding her hand, as she watched the Nasty Burger get hit with a few very powerful ectoblasts, and parts of it caved and crumbled.

Tucker quickly paled – but not for concern for his best friends safety like Valerie and others closest thought; no for his friends secret – but quickly conjured up a _very_ good and _quite_ believable cover.

"No, he's not! He ran to get his parents; they were not far from here – over by the hardware store - last time he knew. He was trying to get help."

At this, Valerie openly relaxed, and so did several others nearby… all of which, watching-Sam realized…_ were girls. Attractive girls._ So, she was right; Danny's looks and physique didn't go unnoticed by the other members of her gender. _Wonderful._

Just as Tucker quickly pulled out his PDA and sent a message – watching-Sam assumed it to be to Maddie and Jack Fenton so his story was legit - then there was a loud – female – scream and a loud crash into some parked cars on the far side of the parking lot.

Looking, watching-Sam saw it was the girl ghost, being slammed down by one of Danny's green ectoblasts just as she aimed at him with one of her own. But, with horror, watching-Sam saw Danny wasn't without injury like he usually was, regardless of the most recent miss; no… this ghost was more powerful than she had originally realized. And by the looks of it, she was ruthless and wasn't holding back. He had a bad burn on his right upper arm that showed through a large rip in his suit. There was another cut – a long one – that lay diagonally on his lower stomach, with an already forming bruise on his left cheekbone.

"What do you want ghost!?" watching-Sam heard Danny cry, his body still tense and battle-ready as he hovered a bit of a safe distance away from the struggling to get upright ghost below him. His breathing was labored and he looked tired and in pain.

Watching-Sam saw the girl ghost begin to crawl from the hole and wreck in the side of a rather nice BMW, and jump into the air and hover upwards until she was level with him. She was breathing a bit heavy as well, and her brow was furrowed in pain. Upon further inspection, watching-Sam saw her wincing when she straightened up, and she moved one arm to cross her stomach and grip her side. A small bit of blood mixed red and green with ectoplasm seeped through her fingers. Another long cut was bleeding profusely on her right calf. A burn was evident on her bare shoulder, just as severe as Danny's.

As Sam watched the girl ghost wincing in pain… a strange feeling started to happen to her in her almost dream-like state. She suddenly… felt the same pain, like _she_ had sustained the same injuries. She felt this horrible, ripping… _agony_ in her side, and her shoulder of the arm that could be cupping her side was _burning_. The watching-Sam felt _sick_ with pain from all the _hurt_. But, of course she was unable to move or do anything about it.

Then, once Sam thought the pain would be too much, the girl ghost gave a weak, but still menacing smile at Danny. Then she spoke, this time in English.

"I am Luna Specter, Danny Phantom. And you needn't concern yourself – ah – with my desires. You have no way to stop me from taking what I want." She said, wincing as she spoke and once stifling a cry of pain.

Suddenly, the girl ghost – Luna Specter – started to lose altitude, and her eyes started to drift closed in pain. Then, as she tried to fly away – heading over where the people were gathered – she cried out in an ear-splitting scream of agony and crashed sideways into the wall of the Nasty Burger with a huge, loud impact… going right through the wall and sending debris flying everywhere with a flash of deep purple. It went mostly into the crowd of people… and where Sam still lay helpless with Tucker.

"No!" she heard Danny cry, as the people screamed and scattered from the rubble that threatened to injure them. They all got away, but… Danny wasn't fast enough to help Tucker and unconscious-Sam from getting hit.

Danny did however, stop the largest of the rubble from harming them, and Tucker was only cut up and a bit sandy from the plaster.

As Danny rushed to Tucker and herself the watching-Sam felt this strange consciousness fading and her waking up in her body…

Only to be assaulted with immense pain- from the exact injures she had felt before – and then black out one more with a loud scream of agony.

---

When Sam came too, she was aware of very little. The few things that registered in her brain was that it was a hushed quiet that surrounded her, only penetrated with infrequent sounds that seemed far away. But there was one sound that was constant and steady: the beep-beeping of a machine. The only other thing that Sam was in understanding of, was that she felt very muddled and a bit confused… and she found her eyes heavy with sleep and hard to open.

But, open them she did… to find herself hooked up to many wires, a needle in her arm, and a dull ache in her side that was painful only when she tried to move. She was lying in a hospital bed in an empty room. Outside, it was night.

Sam groaned, then hissed in pain, once she made the mistake again of moving.

A second later, she was no longer alone.

It seemed that a few people were watching for her to awake, because suddenly, the door flew open and… _Jazz?_ was at her side, clutching her hand tight, her face oozing relief.

"Jazz?" Sam croaked, finding her voice hoarse and scratchy.

"Oh, thank goodness you're okay!"

Sam chuckled at Jazz's exclamation, then immediately regretted it; hissing in pain from her side from shaking with the laughter. At Jazz's shocked and horrified expression and quick intake of breath, Sam quickly knew she had to stop her from freaking and calling the nurse.

"Jazz! I'm fine, relax. I just gotta remember not to move. No biggie." Sam said, keeping her voice light and chipper.

Her face still creased slightly with worry, but it was less evident.

"What happened? Why am I here with all this… _hurting?_" Sam asked, confused.

"You don't remember, Sam? The Nasty Burger? The ghost attac- well, no you wouldn't… you were unconscious." Jazz said, a bit shocked at first, then realized that Sam _wouldn't_ remember. Duh.

"Y-yeah, right… I passed out…" Sam said, sounding very disturbed… but for reasons Jazz didn't suspect.

"You sure you're okay, Sam? It must've been so scary for that to happen again, and for that same ghost to attack when you did? Danny's investigating that as we speak, by the way. Sure is fishy to me."

Sam was barely listening, though.

She _was_ disturbed, but for an entire different reason: she_ had_ remembered something that… _she was not awake for…_ which isn't possible! Sam shook her head, not sure if she should tell Jazz that she was losing it. Jazz might understand and have a perfectly logical explanation in the form of some psychology-mumbo-jumbo. But, how could she have _possibly seen all that?!_ It just didn't make sense!

But, right now, another thought pressed to the front of her brain: _Danny._

And that was more important to her than her obvious lack of sanity. She'd deal with that once she found out if Danny was alright… _but, he should be! That whole fight was an hallucination, a dream, right? But… Jazz did say a ghost attacked…_

"Wait! Jazz! _Danny's_ investigating?! Is he alright? Did he get the ghost?" Sam asked, her voice a bit shrill, trying to keep Jazz from suspecting that she already knew he was hurt bad… because the only way for her to know that would be for her to have _been awake to see it._ Ugh! Sam's brain was already believing that _hallucination_ as if it had really happened.

She _was losing it._

"A little beat up, yeah. His burn is already mostly healed and his few cuts are just small scabs now."

"How did you explain his injures to your parents?"

"Well, Tucker had texted them about the ghost attack, covering for Danny's alibi I think… but when they got there, she had just _vanished_. And Danny was hurt, so he had to pretend to come out of the wreckage of the Nasty Burger."

"But how did that keep his alibi? Didn't Tucker tell Valerie and others that he was safe, getting his parents?"

The stunned silence that greeted that statement, made Sam realize she had just basically given away the fact that she was _crazy._ Or lying… well, Sam knew _something_ was going on. She just didn't know _exactly what_. Yet.

Because Sam _was unconscious for that little exchange._

Oh, crap.

"How did yo-" Jazz began, looking troubled and really, really confused, but Sam was – oh so bless fully saved – by the abrupt arrival of Danny… along with Marcus and Julie.

Sam looked at Danny – pointedly ignoring Jazz - and couldn't believe he was basically healed already after…

"Wait! How long have I been here?!" Sam suddenly asked.

She saw Julie wince, but Danny answered.

"About three days; it's Wednesday night."

_Well, that's great. I missed America's Next Top Model again…_ Sam thought ruefully, but her expression was one of shock.

"What!?" she practically screeched.

Julie rushed to her side, clutching her blankets with tears in her eyes. And it was then Sam realized how scared her _real parents_ (in her eyes anyway) must have been. Even Marcus's face looked strained.

"Oh, Sam! It's okay! You're going to heal up nice and good now that you're awake! The doctors said you could come home in a few days!" Julie said.

And Sam had another realization: she called her _Sam._ Not Miss Manson or Miss Samantha. She looked at Julie with a wistful, but shocked expression on her face. Julie blushed slightly, but didn't take it back or apologize.

Sighing – and hiding a wince… god! She had to stop moving! – she pulled a smile.

"Yeah, you're right."

Then, they were all interrupted by a nurse in the doorway, sounding cross.

"Excuse me? Visiting hours are over for the day. _Way over._"

Sam just smiled and stared at the nurse with a sickly sweet expression, another wicked idea forming. Something that was happening a lot lately…

"Yes, excuse _you._" Sam said, still with a fake smile plastered on her face, but her voice dripping with venom. "In case you don't know _who I am_ – I am Miss Samantha Manson. My parents _are the most influential benefactors_ of this hospital, _thanks to my insistence._ So, I'd _drop_ the superior bitchy attitude and let me see the people I love after I've been _unconscious for three days!_ Thanks!"

Her face visibly paled and she turned on her heel and fled without a word.

Sam smiled triumphantly and looked back at everyone surrounding her bed who looked like they had just been told they had been declared ruler of the world. Frowning at their_ beyond_ shocked faces, Sam asked with the tiniest of smirks,

"What?"

---

**Authors Note: awww, this chapter was a bit shorter than the other by about 1,200 words. Poo. I hoped you guys liked it! I know there wasn't much of a Danny/Sam fluff scene before the world had to ruin it; sorry. I know I had promised… but, at this point in the story, their relationship opportunities will always be destroyed by something or another. Be patient, though; it's not the main point of the story, but it is gonna happen. PINKY PROMISE! Mwah! So, yeah. I am finished with this at 3:40am on 4/13… even though I am very sad and dejected by getting like… 1 SINGLE review since I posted the update really early Sunday. I don't feel like this story is being liked! And it's making me not want to finish it.**

**So, please guys! Try and get some of your fellow DP shippers/readers to give this story a try! PLEASE! I don't wanna stop, but I'm not going to waste my time on a story if no one is going to read it.**

**And I spent three hours – 10pm until 1am – writing out TONS of Plot Bunnies that I had caught from under my bed into something that made sense and sounded AWESOME to me! PLEASE GUYS! I really am begging here! I need some support! You'll want me to continue because it get's EPIC.**

… **so, yeah. Thanks.**

**-listenWITHyourHEART;; Cassidi**


	6. The Arrival of Missing Vol 94,053

_The Moments I Forgot_

-a Danny Phantom fic-

By, listenWITHyourHEART

**Disclaimed**

SUMMARY: **NOTE; UPDATED! **This is the story of Sam Manson, a girl who certainly isn't what she seems; take a few random black-outs from brain-pain, a scary-powerful new halfa-suspected ghost who seems dead set on killing Sam… and you get a whole lot of things Sam doesn't remember.

Five;; The Arrival of Missing Vol. 94,053

True to the doctors word (well, Julie's, really) Sam was home two days later.

Though, the _cons_ of said location were rapidly outstripping the _pros_. Example? Happy to give you one: Sam wasn't hooked up to an IV.

Now, that may not seem like a con to _you_ my dear, but being IV-less meant Sam had to _ingest_ her pain medication. And on the list of Things Samantha Manson Avoids Doing at All Costs, swallowing pills is number four (and it's a _very_ long list, mind you). Oh, curious are you? Fine. Three is wearing pink, two is eating meat (but that's not hard, really, anymore), and the Number One Thing Samantha Manson Avoids Doing at All Costs? Why! That should be obviously simple: _Don't let Danny Fenton know you're in love with him._ But, with her little… _show_, at the Nasty Burger almost a week ago, that perfect record was tarnished. FOREVER.

And Sam hated breaking the rules on _that particular list_, more than breaking actual school rules, and the law (sadly).

I bet you're wondering why swallowing pills is so high up on that list. I mean, the 'pink' thing is obvious (she originally did it just to piss off her mother, but now she just _hates_ that color), as is the eating meat (helloooo? Ultra-recyclo-vegetarian! Duh.) Well, it's because of Sam's easy-trigger gag reflex, made more potent by her unwarranted fear of the pill going down the wrong way, or it getting stuck in her throat, or choking on it, or – the worst – having it not go down with the water and sticking to her tongueand start to_ dissolve _with a_ beyond horrible _taste.

Sam hates her pharmacophobia. It's disgustingly embarrassing.

That isn't the only _con_, though, of being home for her recovery. Far from it. There is the being _fussed over _to the point of Sam losing her patience and resorting to _physical violence_ to get them to leave her alone. And screaming, too. There is only so much you can take, being bed-ridden for three days straight, basically unable to move _at all_ while her side and cut leg heal, and not having _one_ moment of _peace_ in all that time because of aforementioned fussing by Julie… and her mother, Pamela Manson.

Now, Sam would have been able to _deal_ with Julie fussing, because Sam knew _Julie_ was being legit in her concern (and Sam had to admit, this was by _far_ the worst injury she had sustained in the past almost-four-years, so it going from a few bumps and scrapes to _this_ was a bit much for Julie to handle). Her strictly-_biological_ mother, however, she could not tolerate much longer. Because she was _freaking bipolar_ and Sam was _this close _to blowing up again.

Her mother would alternate between doting, and caring, acting worried for her daughters _comfort_ to scolding her for _making the family look bad_ by being at the _scene of a crime._ Her mother was _delusional. _Why the _frick_ couldn't she say the dang word already and _admit _the 'crime' to what it _really was!_ A _ghost battle_. UGH!

So, it was Tuesday afternoon when Sam was visited by Tucker – who visited every day – unfortunately holding her second day's worth of homework. Tomorrow, though, was a half-day and the last day before their start of winter vacation.

"Hey, Sam," Tucker greeted after Julie let him into her room, and placed Sam's nightly medication dose on the dresser next to the door.

"Hey…" Sam said, glowering at the pills as they sat there in a little cup – mocking her – next to the large glass of water.

Tucker placed her books and papers on her desk by her closet door, across from her bed, and then turned around to see Sam still glaring at the pills. He smiled softly, and asked,

"You want me to get them for you?"

She spun her head to look at him – her expression half horrified, half pissed that he'd offer, knowing she wanted to avoid them – and Tucker had to burst out laughing. This only caused Sam to glower even more.

"Relax, Sam. Jeez."

Sam snorted, still annoyed and then asked,

"What does the homework damage include?"

Tucker turned to inspect the pile.

"Um, Historical Essay on this article we have to read in European History… ugh, five haiku's dealing with the winter-holiday season for AP English, and there is a note from Mr. Waternoose about your still life for Canvas & Scenery art class." He handed it to her, and Sam quickly read it.

_Dear Miss Manson,_

_I am allowing you an extra week after the winter break if you need it to complete your still life, due to your accident._

_Sincerely,_

_Mr. Waternoose_

"Okay," Sam said, folding the note back up, and looking at Tucker, who stood… frozen at her desk, holding a textbook in his hand.

At least, it looked like a textbook.

"Tuc-" Sam began to ask, but he cut her off, turning to her with a confused and slightly scared expression on his face.

"Sam… what is this?"

And he held up the front of the book, walking closer to her.

It was a black, leather-bound book, slightly frayed around the edges with the words: 'Encyclopedia of Affinitas Inter Humanus quod Phasmatis Fortuna XCIVLXIII' as the title, written in silver on the front.

"I – I have no idea. I have never seen that in my life. What…?" Sam asked, confused, but motioned for Tucker to hand it to her.

He did, and Sam traced the letters with one fingertip, looking awed and confused at the same time.

"Sam…?" Tucker asked, sounding timid.

"I don't understand this feeling, Tucker. I feel like I know this book… but I've never seen it before in my life, nor do I even know the language it's in…"

Tucker stared at the book's cover, and said, quite suddenly,

"Latin. It's written in Latin!"

Sam looked up at him, shocked.

"How did you know that?" she asked.

"I'm not sure… the letters look the same as some of my Calculus figures and the way the words sound… I'm pretty sure it's Latin."

Sam frowned at this. Turning the book around in her hands, looking at it curiously, she then decided to try and open the book. It may be in Latin, but maybe they could translate it.

Only, the covers wouldn't budge.

"Huh? It won't open!" Sam cried, trying harder to pry the book apart, grunting with the effort. Tucker took the book and tried this time, only when he did, something happened.

"Ahhh!" he shrieked, dropping the book like it had shocked him.

Because it did.

"Tucker!" Sam cried, as his hands were shaking and one was pressed over his heart. His eyes were wide with surprise.

"It… it shocked me!" he gasped, staring at the book now on the floor next to her bed in horror. "It felt like… lightning… but I'm speculating because I've never been hit by lightning but sti-"

"Tucker," Sam said, her voice a little impatient, but still laced with concern.

"Sorry, I babble when I'm surprised…" he muttered, hands still shaking, but less violently.

Sam leaned over the side of her bed to look at the book as well, and as she did, the book began to glow… _purple and green._

"Holy crow!" Tucker cried, stumbling away from it, and Sam gasped.

The colors began to fade a moment later, and Tucker was shaking hard. But, he seemed to get his wits back once Sam said,

"Tucker, I don't _care_ what the _frick_ is going on with Danny, or why he's avoiding me –"

"He's no-" he tried to say but Sam spoke over him.

"But, with that just happening, you better give me your _damn Fentonfone_ so I can call and tell him to get his _ass_ over here!"

Tucker stared at Sam for a moment, before reaching in his pocket and pulling out the earpiece, handing it to Sam.

She stuck it in her ear and pressed the pre-set station button – Danny's - and then the call button. She waited, noticing Tucker was avoiding her eyes, something that did nothing to comfort her. _So, maybe he is avoiding me. Great, I knew I should have thought that little stunt through to the possible consequences I didn't want…_

But a minute later, Danny's voice answered on the other end,

"Tucker! Hey, man, I'm on my way back from Wisconsin. I'll be there in a few."

"Wisconsin?" Sam gasped, her voice a little shocked and high pitched with an air of confusion in it.

"Sa-" Danny gasped, then groaned. "_Shit."_

And that was when Sam knew he was keeping something from her. Because Danny doesn't curse. Often.

"Danny, I need you over to my house, _now._ No excuses to why you've been avoiding me, because something… new has happened. Hurry, because I don't think this bodes well."

"Are yo-" Danny began to ask, but Sam cut over him, too.

"Just hurry."

And she ended the connection, and handed Tucker back his _Fentonfone,_ who looked guilty.

Sam just glowered.

---

Fifteen awkward, tense and silent minutes later – interrupted only once by Julie paging Sam through the intercom, asking if Tucker was staying for dinner, which Sam figured he should, since him, Danny and herself had a lot to talk about. So, Sam told Julie Danny would be joining them as well – Danny phased through her bedroom wall, and changed back to Fenton.

Sam noticed something very different about Danny, immediately following the transformation back to his human-self: he basically looked dead on his feet, battered and sore, worried and troubled by something he hadn't told her, but Tucker knew about (she guessed, since he wouldn't look at her right away, and was staring at Tucker who seemed to be trying to… warn him? with his eyes…?).

Still, though, no one spoke.

Sam was a bit preoccupied with Danny, still. For once she got past his worrisome appearance, she noticed he was carrying a heavy amount of weapons. He had two _Fenton Bazookas_ strapped over his back, a _Jack o' Nine Tails_ attached to his belt, two _Fenton Thermoses_ on the opposite side of his hip and his _FentonFone_ in his ear.

This struck Sam as odd; Danny had his _ghost powers_. Why would he need to use his parents ghost fighting inventions?

"Danny, why do you have all that stuff?" Sam finally had to ask.

His gaze snapped to hers, and he shrugged, letting his gaze slide to the floor.

"Uh, extra precaution, I guess. Just in case…"

Sam's brow furrowed and she frowned. Then, slowly – making a show of it – she glared, folding her arms over her chest.

"In. Case. Of. _What!?"_ she said, enunciating each word, getting louder and more angry. Angry that Danny was skirting the truth, or elaborating on anything; he was swimming in _vague_. Sam hated it.

Danny flinched, and Tucker looked uncomfortable.

"Sam, okay, I didn't want to tell you bec-"

"_Because what!?"_ Sam practically screeched. "Because I'm a _girl_? Because I'm _hurt!?_ Or because you didn't think I could _handle it!?"_

She struggled, trying to get out from under her covers, but her tightly bandaged leg and torso made that difficult… and quite painful. She hissed in pain, but made herself move anyway.

Tucker, noticing this, struggled to get Sam to stay in bed but she pushed back on him, and yelled,

"_Tucker Foley!_ You better help me out of bed _this instant_ so I can kick Danny Fenton's _arse_ for being such a masochistic, insensitive – "

"Sam!" Danny cried, rushing to her, finally breaking his awkward silence and shy attitude. He pushed Tucker away as she began trying to pound her fists into his chest, arms, anywhere she could reach. "Sam! I didn't tell you because I didn't want you to _worry!_ You were already sick and then hurt and possibly being targeted by ghosts – "

"And when am I _not_ Danny Fenton!? _When have I been free from damn ghosts in four – whole - years?!" _Sam cried, her fists slowing down, and tears began to leak from her eyes.

And she had no idea why_ she was crying!_

Danny fell silent, holding Sam's arms to her shoulders, looking stunned and hurt… but like, _guilty hurt._ Sam closed her eyes, and let the tears flow freely now, sobs raking her chest. This was when she realized why… why she was crying: she was _worried_; worried _sick_ about Danny. Why he hadn't visited her after the Nasty Burger battle, or anytime within the past week. She was worried he had been hurt, or MIA, or captured, and no one could find out how to tell her. Worried he didn't know how to act around her since he _must_ realize that Sam liked him now… it was all too much and Sam couldn't handle it anymore. Her tough, I-don't-care attitude could only handle things up to a certain point.

Danny's face softened, and he pulled Sam into his chest, hugging her close and just let her cry.

Once her sobs had become less violent and she had calmed down a bit, Danny sat down on her bed with her, and explained his reasoning.

"Let me explain, Sam, okay? But let me get it all out before you say anything."

Sam nodded into his now soaked T-shirt, and Danny took a big breath after a encouraging nod from Tucker who now leaned against Sam's dresser, looking troubled still, but more relaxed.

"I haven't visited you Sam since the Nast Burger attack because I was doing some recon about this Luna Specter ghost. I went into the Ghost Zone first, to talk to Clockwork, but once I knocked on his Clocktower door and he answered, he just said,

" 'I am forbidden to tell you anything Danny. I'm sorry; orders from the higher ups. But, I can tell you where you can find info for yourself: Plasmius's ghost lab, and Plasmius himself should know something, if he's as fluent in his Ghost Lore as he claims.' And then he shut the door in my face, and I had no choice but to head out of the Ghost Zone and go and see Vlad.

"I grabbed some of my parents ghost hunting gear, just in case I somehow couldn't use my powers – like if Vlad had created some new device or something – and I didn't want to be unable to defend myself. And yes, I felt I needed all I have. Especially the _Fenton Bazookas._

"It was like 4am, though when I got back into my parents basement, so I knew the field trip to Wisconsin was going to have to wait until after school; and Vlad was busy with Mayor Duties, so I hoped he wouldn't even be home. It didn't delude me though, that he wouldn't have some security system or traps or something guarding the place.

"So, I told Tucker at school what I was planning, and asked him to check on you at the hospital when he could and let me know when you woke up… I have to say Sam, you scared me another half to death. You got so hurt by the rubble, and I… I can't believe I wasn't more careful-"

Sam cut him off, disregarding his request to keep quiet, but Sam had to stop him from going off in an unwarranted guilt-ridden rant. Pulling away from his chest, Sam wiped her eyes and said,

"Danny, it is not your fault I was hurt. I know full well what it entails, knowing your secret and aiding you in your ghost fighting. I was bound to get hurt eventually, and this time was just that. You're not Clockwork, Danny, or the Observants: you can't predict the future, or change time. Don't beat yourself up, okay? I don't blame you," Sam smiled kindly at him and said,

"But, continue. Sorry for interrupting."

Danny nodded, a small, tiny smile on his lips.

"So, I left right after school, and I phoned Jazz who had gotten in from her flight while I was at school, and told her what had happened while she was gone. It took the majority of my ghost-flight to Wisconsin. She promised also to let me know about you.

"I got to Vlad's mansion in a little under an hour. And as I suspected, it looked like no one was home, though I didn't let my guard down. There were a few traps, also like I suspected, but I got through no problem. Vlad forgets I'm improving with time. So, I was able to get down to his lab, and I began looking around.

"There wasn't much on the 'suspicious' front, really. It actually looked like he hadn't touched anything new, or made any new gadgets or weapons or tried any new experiments. But, I happened to hit a hidden button in the wall, next to his Ghost Portal. It opened up the wall, and a hidden room appeared. It ended up being a library, full of like ancient books and scrolls and stuff. As far as I could tell, nothing had been looked at for a while there either; there was a bit of dust.

"But, I noticed one thing funny. The room was very large and had a very high ceiling, and on the two side walls, there were a mixture of different colored and aged books, and some artifact looking things. But the whole far wall was one book set. Like, literally, there were over a million books. They were all black leather bound and they had Roman Numerals on their sides. The one all the way in the bottom right-hand corner of shelf was number – get this: 1,025,671. It was in regular, modern English number though, I guess the Roman would be too long."

Sam and Tucker couldn't help but gasp at that.

"Holy _shit_." Sam spat. "But what were they?"

Danny chuckled darkly.

"Sam, that wasn't as high as they went."

"Huh?" both Sam and Tucker asked.

Danny looked grim.

"I noticed that right next to the bottom right-hand corner of the books spine, on the little sliver of the wall, there was a tiny green button. Hesitantly, I pushed it, and the wall slid sideways, until all those books were replaced by a seemingly identical shelf of books. But, the number on the last book was now 2,051,342."

"Holy shit doesn't even cover that." Tucker breathed.

Danny still didn't smile.

"Guys, holy shit doesn't even cover this because, _that that isn't the highest number._"

Tucker and Sam stared at him, dumbfounded.

"You're shitting me." Tucker stated, which by him using the "S" word, made him pretty freaked.

"No. But, I wish to everything I was. The wall slid _three hundred more times_. I couldn't believe it, but the last number on those books, was 615,402,600."

Tucker slid weakly to the floor.

"What could those books _possibly_ contain that takes over six-hundred _million_ volumes to finish the set?" he breathed.

"Some important knowledge I'm guessing. Maybe they're some like all powerful encyclopedia set? I mean, makes sense to me…" Sam said.

"There's more." Danny said simply.

Tucker groaned.

"Once I hit the button three hundred and _one_ times, I was back to the beginning. I went ghost and decided to grab the first one. But, on my way up to the ceiling, I saw something even more strange: volume number 94,053 was missing. There was just an empty slot between 94,052 and 94,054."

All at once, Sam gasped. It clicked. It all of a sudden made sense.

"Sam?" Danny asked. "What – did you figure something out?"

Sam nodded mutely eyes wide, and she bent down slowly to pick up the book that lay forgotten on the floor. The book that was bound in black leather and had the number in Roman Numerals, 94,053 on its spine and front cover.

Staring at it for a moment, Sam took a big breath, though she already knew they answer.

She held it out to Danny and asked,

"Did they happen to look like… this?"

---

**Authors Note: DUN-DUN-DUN! Hehe, cliffy! And, GOODNESS! It took me WAY too long to spew this out that it should have, really. I'm actually not to fond of this chapter, much. But, it had necessary plot info inside so it had to be written. And that awesome-for-me-agonizing-for-you cliffy just seemed the perfect time to end it, around 3,500 words. Things are heating up, that's for sure!**

**Any guesses on what the 615,402,600 volume collection of old books contain? Or what is so special and/or important about Vol. 94,053? Anyone? The first person to guess closest – or on the mark, either – will get a shout-out and a future Original Character named after them! HOW AWESOME IS THAT!? So, please REVIEW and in that, speculate your idea to me!**

**Next chapter should be up soon everyone! Thanks for reading!**

**-listenWITHyourHEART;; Cassidi**


	7. Status: Avoiding Jazz Like the Plague

_The Moments I Forgot_

-a Danny Phantom fic-

By, listenWITHyourHEART

**Disclaimed**

SUMMARY: This is the story of Sam Manson, a girl who certainly isn't what she seems; take a few random black-outs from brain-pain, a scary-powerful new halfa-suspected ghost who seems dead set on killing Sam… and you get a whole lot of things Sam doesn't remember.

Six;; Status: Currently Avoiding Jazz Like the Plague

Danny was shocked, to say the least.

"Y-yes…" he stuttered out, staring at the book in Sam's outstretched hand with an expression like Danny thought it was going to bite him. "How did you get this?"

Slowly he reached out for it, and Tucker cried out a warning. But, Danny's hand had already grabbed it, and Tucker looked miffed.

"What?" Danny asked.

"Nice. It didn't _shock you_ when _you_ touched it." He trailed off, grumbling unhappily.

"Tucker brought it with my homework from school." Sam said.

Danny looked at Tucker, silently asking him a question.

"No, I didn't even notice it was there in the stack. So, I'm not sure if it was there when I got her stuff from the office or if it just like… appeared there on my way here or something."

This just caused Danny to frown.

Slowly, he placed his hands on either side of the book's covers and tried to open it. But, like Sam and Tucker, it would not budge.

"We couldn't get it open either," Sam said, sinking back down on her bed, tired from standing so long.

The trio lapsed into silence for some time more, all lost in their own thoughts. Sam was the one who spoke first.

"But, Danny, it's like, over a week later since you went to Wisconsin. What happened since then, and why did you go back today?"

This question made Danny looked even more uncomfortable and agitated.

"Well, I had gotten back early Tuesday morning – about four hours before school, so yeah no sleep – and at school, Tucker confirmed what Jazz had told me at home, that you were still unconscious. And, I figured if Vlad was somehow behind this new ghost attack, it would be bad if I showed up again the next day. Just because I wasn't confronted in Wisconsin, doesn't mean I wasn't seen. I waited until Wednesday afternoon, before I decided to head back into the Ghost Zone and try and ask Clockwork again.

"No, luck, though; he wasn't home, and the Observant's Lair was… well, _gone."_

"What do you mean, gone?" Sam asked.

"What it sounds like: their Lair wasn't anywhere where I could see. It looked like it had simply vanished. I doubted that, though. I suspected it had been moved, so I couldn't bother them about this new ghost, because _apparently_ I'm not _allowed_ any _helpful _information. I debated though, whether to go to the Far Frozen and ask Frostbite to borrow the Infi-Map, so I could find the Lair. But, it was getting late, and I needed to get back.

"But, schoolwork and the recent spikes in ghost activity hindered me from looking again, or making any headway in this investigation. They were no new ghosts though, just the regular pests: Skulker, Technus, the Box Ghost… but, I was finally able to get Jazz and Tucker to cover for my absence today. I heard that Vlad was heading home to Wisconsin for the rest of the week, since Christmas is on Saturday. I figured this was my perfect chance to get him to spill anything he knew about Luna Specter. So, I followed him back to his mansion and got inside. I found him playing chess with his stupid cat, but he didn't act surprised to see me.

" 'Ahh, Daniel. Nice for you to visit. I have been meaning to talk to you about your most recent… uh, architectural casualty. You must be more careful, Danny. The Nasty Burger has been rebuilt and repaired too many times for me to care to remember.'

" ' Save it Vlad. I want you to tell me what is up with your secret library, and what all those books are. And especially why only one is missing.' I said.

"Well, I guess he didn't know that I knew about those books, and even more so he didn't know one was missing. So, yeah. He flipped out, and changed into Plasmius, and phased into the lab. I followed, but when I got there, he started having a _freaking hissy fit!_ If I wasn't so wary that he might attack me, I would have laughed.

"He started screaming, 'No! I can't lose that one! Not that one! CLOCKWORK!' and then he raced out of the library and into his Ghost Portal, sealing it behind him. No matter what I tried, I couldn't get in to follow. It wasn't a huge loss though: I found out, one, those books are important – at least to him – and that one book, which we so luckily have, maybe more so than all of them. Two, Clockwork is involved somehow. That worries me even more than Vlad does, to say the truth."

Tucker and Sam nodded.

"What are those books, though? And why can't we open them?" Sam mused.

"Your guess is as good as mine…" Danny said.

They lapsed into silence again, only to be shattered by a knock on Sam's door and Julie calling through,

"Dinner is ready Sam! Danny hasn't arrived has he?"

Tucker opened the door and Julie shook her head, rolling her eyes when she saw him.

"Of course he has. Alright, come on. Dinnertime." She said, starting to head down the hall. "Oh! Danny, could you help Sam downstairs? Marcus isn't here, he went to pick up your layaway orders, Sam, but he should be back sometime during dinner."

"Yeah, sure," Danny said, and Sam blushed madly.

_Danny… holding me…_ she mused in her head, liking the idea way more than she should right now. After all, Danny might know... about those _feelings,_ that is._ He can't be that dense…_

Tucker had bolted after Julie to the kitchen, leaving Sam and Danny alone. If it wasn't so typically Tucker, Sam would have thought he did it on purpose. Because even if Danny didn't know… Tucker most certainly did.

Sam sat still on the edge of her bed, hands on her lap, fingers intertwined nervously. When nothing happened even a minute later, Sam looked up, her eyes a little more peeved than she planned. It wasn't that she was mad at Danny, no! She was peeved at herself for making things awkward between them with that little stunt at the Nasty Burger. No wonder Danny was all nervous and fidgety around her…

"Danny? You gonna carry me down anytime within the next century?" she said, voice a bit edgy.

He jumped at the sound of her voice, and looked embarrassed.

"Sorry, spaced out…" he muttered, moving towards her, arms outstretched. He paused though, a bit away from actually touching her, and his face became red.

"Um, how should I-?" he mumbled, motioning to her body.

Sam sighed, annoyed. But a little amused, nevertheless.

"Put one arm under my knees and the other around my back. I'll hold onto your neck with my arms."

He nodded and did as she said, but once he had her in his arms, he frowned.

"Have you been eating _at all_ Sam?" his voice was a bit forced.

"Of course!" she protested.

"When did you last check your weight? I'm sorry Sam, but you weigh like nothing."

"I am 114 pounds exactly, Danny Fenton. And that was yesterday. You're just stronger than the last time you had to carry me… which I think was at the end of junior year, when I fell down the stairs and twisted my ankle at your house."

He frowned deeper, and moved to head downstairs.

"Hmmm," he mused. "Maybe."

They made the rest of the way to the dining room in silence. Once they reached it, Sam motioned for Danny to place her in the wheelchair that was now in place of her usual chair. Danny set her down, his face creased with pain… but not physical. No, Sam knew Danny was upset at himself after he saw the wheelchair. Sam knew him well enough he blamed himself for not keeping her from getting hurt. To him, that wheelchair was a symbol of how bad he messed up.

As Danny was pulling away, Sam grabbed onto the color of his shirt, preventing him from leaving. She pulled his ear down to her mouth and hissed,

"Don't you dare beat yourself up over this, Danny. I'm fine. Nothing I can't recover from. You hear me?"

Only when he nodded and Sam could see a sliver of a smile on his face, did she let go, and he took his place next to her.

The meal was uneventful. Julie was cleaning up the kitchen, and Tucker shoved his face full of the burgers (five in all he ate) Julie made for him and Danny, while Sam ate her tofu wrap.

Just as Julie was clearing the table and Tucker was patting his stomach happily, calling out thanks to Julie, the front door opened, and the three heard grunting from the entry hall.

Sam wheeled away from the table, Tucker and Danny following.

It was only when she saw that it was Marcus, bringing in her layaway gifts, did Sam realize she probably shouldn't have let Danny or Tucker see the amount of stuff he was hauling in. They weren't always rock-headed.

"Miss Manson!" Marcus huffed, setting the bag of smaller wrapped items down by the stairs to the basement, "Your father is going to kill you with how much you spent."

"Psht. Yeah right," Sam said, waving her hand. "He can't do anything."

As she was saying this, three more men – friends of Marcus's, who Sam assumed were helping him once he realized how much stuff he was actually required to bring inside the mansion – entered, carrying stacks of colorfully wrapped presents of a myriad of sizes and shapes. A fourth man came in wheeling a handcart with the biggest gift. It barely fit through the door.

And, of course, that had to be the one clearly marked, "TO: DANNY, FROM: SAM."

Looking over at the two boys on either side of her, Sam groaned. They were gazing, open mouthed and drooling at what they saw.

"Alright, enough you two. Up to my room, now."

It took a few seconds for Danny to realize what she said, and he bent to pick her up, his eyes still shocked. Tucker was a bit harder. Sam had slapped him on the arm a few times, but he barely twitched. Sam realized, looking at his darting eyes, he was trying to figure out what the gifts were, by their box sizes. _Uh oh! Not good! Tucker always gets it when he does that!_ Sam cried in dismay, and told Danny to kick him in the shins.

That worked.

"Upstairs, now, Tucker!" Sam ordered, ignoring his cries of pain, and Danny made his way up, Tucker following behind a bit slower.

Once they got up there, Tucker turned on her, squealing in a very un-manly voice, trying to get her to tell him what the gifts were, how many were for him, et ectera.

If Sam was still hungry, or tired, she would have lost it. Thankfully though, she was in a docile mood, and figured a little malicious teasing of the boys' (both, because Sam knew Danny wanted to know, too; and just as bad, after seeing that one large box) lack of patience.

"Tucker, you're not getting anything out of me, okay? And don't even try to get down to the basement and open them. They are in a secret place that – no – not even you, Tucker, hacker and techno-geek extraordinaire can get into."

Tucker groaned, mumbling crossly.

Danny set her down, sitting upright against her pillows, leaned up on her headboard of her bed. He sat down by her feet on the edge of the bed, chuckling at Tucker, who was now pacing and muttering to himself. If Sam's hearing was correct, he was trying to calculate what he could see of the boxes dimensions and deduce the contents. He forgot one thing about that method; and Sam wasn't one to withhold mathematical information from him.

"Tucker, you know that there are a lot of things that could fit into any one of those boxes. And, they might be a lot of packaging, not the entire gift itself. Or more than once box inside. Give up, Tuck. Wait three more days, kay?"

With a loud sigh, Tucker sat down heavily on her desk chair, and stared at the strange book, afraid to touch it.

"What do you think it is?" he murmured a minute later.

Danny frowned.

"I have no idea."

Suddenly, Sam remembered something.

"Wait, Danny! What did Clockwork say about 'Vlad being as fluent in his Ghost Lore as he claims'? What does that mean?"

Danny shook his head.

"I really don't know. I mean, Lore… doesn't that mean, like myths and legends and stuff? Are the volumes a collection of like all the ghost tales?"

Sam snorted.

"I doubt it. Think about it Danny: us humans on Earth don't have enough lore – in all the different cultures and civilizations combined that tell a different story – to fill more than a hundred of these maybe 300 paged books. And there's over 600 _million_. No, I don't think the ghosts could have that much. And even if they did, it's unlikely they look the time and cataloged it. The only one who resembles a scribe or whatever, if the Ghost Writer. I hardly see him taking on that task."

Tucker and Danny nodded, affirming my logic.

"But, then… what could it be? And what did Clockwork mean by Vlad knowing his Ghost Lore?" Tucker asked.

"Well…" Sam said, trailing off. "Maybe we can translate the title. I mean, Tucker, you said you thought it was in Latin, right?"

"Yeah, it seems like it."

"Well, it may be a dead language, but it's translatable."

Tucker nodded, grabbing a scrap piece of paper off the desk and copying down the words.

"Alright, I'll take this home and get online and try and get a match," he said standing up.

Sam nodded, yawning a bit but trying to stop it from being obvious. Tucker grabbed his messenger bag and said goodbye, heading out and said he'd contact them via _Fentonfone_ if he got anything.

That left Sam… and Danny.

They were silent for a while; Sam looking pointedly away from him and out the window, and Danny staring at his feet.

Sam spoke first, bringing up something she didn't really want to, but knew was necessary to finding out the truth.

"Hey… Danny?"

He turned to face Sam, his face questioning.

"Yeah?"

"I need to tell you some things. Things that have been happening to me that make me vehemently questioning my sanity."

Danny looked concerned now. He got up from the edge of the bed, and moved closer to Sam to sit next to her against the headboard.

"Go ahead, Sam. I'll listen, whatever you want."

Sam nodded, taking a deep breath.

She told him about the strange dreams she had, where she was reliving the Chicago attack, but from a different perspective. She told him then, about seeing Luna Specter after that dream in another, and she spoke to Sam and tried to kill her. She then told Danny, what she really didn't want to.

"Danny… when I blacked out at the Nasty Burger, before she showed up a second time, I didn't totally black out. I mean, yeah I wasn't conscious, but it was like in my dream: I was in another state. I could see everything and hear everything but I was away, up high, detached from my body. I feel like I'm going crazy, because that's not possible.

"And, I kinda slipped something to Jazz at the hospital, when she was telling me stuff about when I was _supposed_ to be unconscious, that made me seem like I wasn't. She's been trying to see me since I left the hospital, but I've had Julie and Marcus keep her away.

"I'm really… not sure I could handle her, you know? Trying to figure me out, or how it is possible. I mean, I want to know, but I'm just not ready yet."

Danny was silent for the whole narration, listening without interruption. He looked a bit worried though, but not in the way that he didn't believe her. More so, like he was concerned on what all this meant.

"This isn't good Sam. For some reason, this ghost is targeting you. She basically said she wants to kill you, and I don't doubt she's going to put in a good try. So, we have to figure out what she's planning. And that means I'm going to have to pin down Vlad and get it out of him. Somehow."

"Don't you mean, 'we' Danny?"

He suddenly got his steely-eyed look, and Sam frowned.

"Oh, no, Danny! You're taking me! I have a right to be there!"

"No, Sam. You don't. Luna is after _you;_ and if Vlad's behind this, or involved in any way, you'll be vulnerable and I'll most likely be too involved with Vlad to keep you safe. And you can't defend yourself in this condition. No, I won't bring you."

Sam wanted to argue. She really did. But something in Danny's voice made her stop; she knew him, and even though she was stubborn and wanted to go, she knew Danny wouldn't deny her this if there wasn't a reason. And her well-being was it this time.

Her face softened. Danny's worry about her well-being always got her. She always melted.

"If you feel that way… fine Danny. But can it wait until after Christmas? I mean it's less than four days away. What's the harm?"

Danny nodded slowly then shook his head, face becoming torn.

"The harm? Sam! _This ghost is trying to kill you!_ We need to find out why and how to stop her before you get even more hurt!" He shook his head. "No, we can't wait."

Sam's face became steely.

"Danny. Feton. This is the _last Christmas_ we'll be spending in Amity Park together while we're in high school! You will _not_ ruin this for me!" her voice rose to a shriekey level as she spoke, becoming angry and stubborn. She did not want her last Christmas in high school to be like this. She _did not!_

Danny looked a bit shocked, staring at Sam's blazing eyes. Slowly, his face became contemplative.

"Alright," he finally allowed. "It is your favorite holiday – "

Sam opened her mouth to protest his statement, but Danny just grinned.

"Don't even try Sam. I know you try to hide it, but even the magic of Christmas affects Sam Manson."

Sighing Sam shrugged.

"Whatever you say Danny."

They were silent for a few minutes; Danny stared at Sam, making her blush, while she avoided his boaring gaze and stared at her hands awkwardly.

Suddenly there came a knock on her door, and the voice belonging to the person Sam had been avoiding for a week floated through.

"Danny? You there? Mom and Dad sent me to get you since they can't reach you on your cell. Uh, they're a bit confused on why Danni is there and she's kinda overwhelmed on how to explain herself…"

Danny jumped up, pulling open the door at the mention of his clone's name.

"What!?" he cried.

"Uh, yeah…" Sam murmured. "I thought she told you she was coming for Christmas…?"

Danny shook his head.

"God! I gotta save her!" he freaked. "Mom and Dad can't find out about her being – " he cut himself off. "Okay, bye Sam! See you tomorrow!"

And then he did something that made Sam's eyes practically bug out.

He leaned down and kissed her quick on the cheek, then ran off into the hallway without a second thought.

Jazz stood there, staring at Sam in shock, whose face was completely at a loss.

Then, slow footsteps stared back towards her room and Danny appeared back in Sam's doorway, looking just as shocked as her.

"Sam, I – "

Sam cut him off, saying,

"Go, Danny. It's okay." He waved her hand towards him, telling him to leave, eyes still wide.

Danny nodded mutely and shot off down the hall and outside to head home.

Slowly, Sam lifted her fingers to her cheek, softly touching the place where Danny's lips had been. Her cheek felt all tingly like she had been shocked, and the feeling was slowly coursing through the rest of her body.

"I'm going to, uh – go. I'll talk to you later, Sam." Jazz said, her face still a little shocked, but amusement and an 'I so saw this coming' expression was working its way onto her face instead.

Sam nodded and Jazz left, looking behind her only once.

Sitting there, Sam was confused.

And that was the understatement of the _century._

**Authors Note: okay so sorry it took so long to update. I was having trouble finishing the chapter, so yeah I hope that last line worked for now.**

**Fun with Danni is coming up next chapter! Woot! So exciting! I know this chapter wasn't epic per se, but I want a little lapse in the 'evil rising' thing, and I have a fun few Christmas chapters before the whole 'happy' thing goes down the tube. Now, THAT will be epic.**

**So, please review! I can't wait to read what you guys think!**

**OH! And p.s. the winner of the guessing thing was my ALL-TIME most supportive reviewer: **_Fugitive of Gray!_ **An OC will be named after them in the future chapters! Congrats on guessing the closest about the books!**

**-listenWITHyourHEART;; Cassidi**


	8. Sort Of Ineffectively Lying to Doctors

_The Moments I Forgot_

-a Danny Phantom fic-

By, listenWITHyourHEART

**Disclaimed**

SUMMARY: This is the story of Sam Manson, a girl who certainly isn't what she seems; take a few random black-outs from brain-pain, a scary-powerful new halfa-suspected ghost who seems dead set on killing Sam… and you get a whole lot of things Sam doesn't remember.

Seven;; (Sort Of) Ineffectively Lying to Doctors

The rest of Sam's night was pleasantly (read: awkwardly) uneventful.

Her parents – whom were visiting her mother's personal jeweler (which to Sam was just overboard… her mother owns way too much gaudy pieces anyway. Why she needed more, Sam could never fathom…) for most of the day – returned around ten pm, slightly tipsy – Sam assumed they had drinks at the shop while her mother fawned over each and _every single_ piece – to head directly up to their master suite without making a visit to Sam who was confined to her bed.

Thank goodness that the next day was the last Danny and Tucker had of school before the winter holiday break started, otherwise she'd go stir crazy with only Julie and Marcus to talk to. And Saturday was Christmas so that made everything better.

If only slightly.

Because tomorrow while Danny and Tucker were basically doing nothing – except in Lancer's class, which Sam knew he would actually make them do work in – Sam was going to be subjected to more torture… in the form of doctors. Again.

Because of Sam's fragile state after the Nasty Burger, the doctor's couldn't do much health investigative work – because of Sam's recent paramedic treatment in Chicago which there was a record of – on her bumped head which was still a little tender. And Sam had been unconscious for her pre-scheduled appointment with her regular doctor, Dr. Hentawitz, so she hadn't gotten a second exam after the Chicago thing.

So, they had rescheduled the previous appointment for the next day at ten am.

And Sam was worried.

Worried, because Dr. H was a very smart guy. If there _was_ something psychologically wrong with her, or some _freaking brain tumor,_ he'd find it. And Sam wasn't sure if she _really_ wanted to know, either way.

Still, Julie – and Marcus – wouldn't rest until she had been checked.

Which sucked.

She was woken up by Julie around quarter to nine, who despite Sam's groggy complaints, got her dressed and ready for them to leave in fifteen minutes. However, Julie had to stay home – her parents had just that morning swooped down like carrion crows with _the List._

The List = every cleaning duty known to man was there in some form to be done over the next few days in the house to get it "Christmas party-ready".

That phrase made Sam want to vomit.

Because the 'Christmas' part should be mercifully omitted. Because the party has nothing to do with the spirit of Christmas. She knew that all too well, having been in attendance of one every year since birth. So that makes… seventeen? Wow.

So, Julie was otherwise detained for the most recent trip to Chicago.

To which Sam was ½ and ½ on: happy, because she wouldn't be there to fret and then make Sam panic; but sad because if it was bad, Julie would be a great comfort afterwards.

_Bollocks._

Marcus got Sam there on time, and no more than five minutes after she had signed in a nurse came out into the waiting room and called her name.

"Samantha Manson?"

"Yeah," Sam replied, raising her voice. Marcus stood from his chair beside her and took hold of her wheelchair handlebars to steer her to the examination room.

Despite Sam's protests this morning, Julie made her bring the wheelchair. She argued that Sam was far too weak to walk around so much and the doctors at the hospital had clearly said that she should avoid any strenuous activity to her torso. Moving to sit down and stand up, maybe having to move quickly to get out of the way, maybe she would get too tired and fall… Julie got to the point of hysterical worry that Sam took it to placate her. And also maybe a little for herself; she didn't want to hurt herself more, either.

Marcus followed the nurse into the room and positioned her chair next to the exam table before helping Sam out of it and onto the loud crinkly paper and cracked leather.

"This is going to be a full examination, as per your request Mr. Coletti, so Miss Manson needs to change into an examination gown."

She unfolded it from where she held it against her chest on her clipboard and handed it out to Sam. Gingerly she took it, looking at it like it was the rotting corpse of Skulker. No matter how much Sam wished him death – full death, not ghostly death so he can continue to torture them – she would not want to be near his disgusting remains.

Marcus took one look at Sam's expression – and her still healing wounds – and turned to the nurse.

"She's going to need help with that."

The nurse looked at him like, 'Seriously? Why?'

"She has a still bleeding and very serious side wound with a few broken ribs. She has a deep gash in her right calf and severe burns on her right shoulder, not to mention she hit her head pretty bad. Oh, and in case this wasn't obvious enough for you – _she's in a wheelchair!_ If she can't even_ walk_ how the _hell _is she supposed to dress herself?_Did you not even read her file? What kind of degree do you have?"_

Sam watched in shock and a little bit of amusement at Marcus going off at the moronic – and a little bit self-righteous and bitchy - nurse. She cowered under his rage, her eyes betraying her shock. Obviously she didn't plan on being called out on her laziness or lack of caring.

At that moment, Dr. H walked in.

He took one look at the nurse and Marcus and frowned, almost disappointed.

"Ashley, please go get Kendra. And take your break once you get her here. I will talk to you once I'm done here so please don't leave the ward."

His voice was cold and menacing.

Obviously he inferred how she had acted by Marcus's angry face.

She nodded slightly and squeaked and 'yes, Doctor!' and scampered away out the door. Sam could almost taste her rising fear and panic.

Dr. H turned to Marcus then.

"I'm so sorry for that Mr. Coletti. She's a new hire, just off her internship. I don't think she'll be here much longer if she is so indifferent to our patients needs."

Marcus nodded, calm now.

Dr. H turned to Sam.

"Kendra will be here shortly to get you into your exam gown. Marcus and I will step outside until you're ready."

Sam nodded and a few moments later, there was a rap on the door and the familiar nurse, Kendra, spoke through the door.

"Dr. H? You called for me?"

He opened the door and smiled.

"Yes, Kendra. You remember Miss Manson, correct?"

She stepped inside the room and upon seeing Sam, smile and said she did.

"Please help her into her exam gown and fetch Mr. Coletti and myself from the hallway when you're done."

She nodded and Marcus and Dr. H left.

"Hello Sam," Kendra said, smiling down at her. Taking in Sam's obvious connection to the wheelchair – which the nurse hadn't seen Sam resorted to yet – she smiled wider and almost laughed at Sam's morose and withering expression.

This was what Sam liked most about Kendra. She could find something humorous in anything and knew Sam relatively well from only the half-dozen or so times she had sporadically been here. She was one of the senior staff nurses for Dr. H and had seen Sam on her first visit when she was four and had an awful combination of poison ivy _and_ the chicken pox; at the _same time._ Both Marcus and Julie had taken her to that appointment, Julie only being employed by her parents a few weeks prior. Marcus had been there almost two years but hadn't really bonded with the child Sam was then.

Julie was great with children but her English was a little halting and unsure. Sam was still young and didn't use proper grammar yet; so Julie didn't always understand what Sam needed. Marcus did, however, and acted as a sort-of 4-year old English translator.

Looking back upon that situation – though Sam wasn't sure of the details, what with her being so young then – Sam found it quite humorous.

And, coincidentally, so did Kendra.

Little Sam was fidgeting in the hard blue plastic waiting room chair, trying hard not to scratch her itchy body. It was so _hard! _Everywhere – and she really did mean _everywhere!_ – was itchy! Julie was trying to calm her but was still unsure of the words to use and Marcus had opted to stay in the car so not to 'catch all the children's illnesses'.

Kendra had been passing through the waiting room on the way to clock in for her shift and had seen Sam: all red and blotchy, looking all determined to keep her arms pinned to her sides, though she was unconsciously rubbing her back against the chair.

She had marched right over and knelt down in front of Sam and said,

"What's your name sweetie?"

"Samantha Manson. But don't call me Samantha! I hate that!"

"Okay then, how about Sam?"

Her little four-year old self had contemplated this for a whole three seconds – little finger resting on her chin all dramatically – before saying,

"Okay!"

"Alright, Sam. How – "

But little Sam had formed an even more determined thought so she blurted it out,

"You're a nurse right? Can you make me stop itching?"

Kendra had smiled, almost not hiding her laughter at the little girl's no-nonsense nature.

"Yeah, I can. Come on, let's go see your doctor, okay?"

And Kendra took Sam's little hand in hers and motioned for Julie to follow as well, talking to her softly in German to which Julie was very surprised but happy.

The next five times Sam had been in to see Dr. H, Kendra was there as well and made it a priority to see Sam. Two months after the poison ivy/chicken pox visit, Sam was back with pink eye and a broken nose (that was an… _amusing_ – and equally embarrassing - story to explain. Sam had gone through a brief period before her Goth and anti-conforming attitude set in – at four! Yeah, Sam was revolutionary – of wanting to be pretty and girly like Paulina. She had actually been sort of friends with her in pre-school and Paulina had brought in her own kiddy eyeliner and let Sam borrow it. Sadly, Paulina didn't know she had pink eye – Sam would love to say that Paulina did it on purpose – so she didn't know she was giving it to Sam. And then she had gotten in a fight with Star, who was jealous Sam got to use to make-up and not her; the broken nose was an accident though, too. She tripped on the playground and smacked her face into the plastic side of the slide. Sam tells this story much differently, now if it comes up. No way does she want to _ever_ remember she wanted to be like _Paulina!_ Yuck).

The next one, when Sam was eight, was when she swallowed a quarter by accident. After that was when she broke her right arm at eleven as well as gotten a ring stuck on her finger on the same arm (she broke it trying to get the ring off. Stupid stairs and too big combat boots…) and at fourteen, after Danny got his powers and Sam was violently sick to her stomach for a week.

Now, not being here for almost three whole years – a long time, if Sam took into account all the dangerous things she's been doing since then – almost made Sam not recognize Kendra.

For one, she was brunette now.

But, that wasn't the biggest change: though she hid the majority of it craftily with her nurse scrubs, Sam could still tell. Kendra was pregnant. And pretty far along if her stomach was that big.

"Hey, Kendra," Sam said a little slow, still a little in awe, but trying not to stare at her pregnant belly.

Kendra laughed.

"Yup, seven months along."

Sam whipped up her head to stare at her.

"Wow, really? That far?"

"Yeah… she's not that big yet but she'll grow a lot more before her due date." Kendra said, smoothing her hand over her stomach with a small smile.

"It's a girl?" Sam asked, a smile creeping into her face as well.

"Yup." Kendra said, grabbing the exam gown and started to help Sam undress and get into it. Once Sam's shirt was off and she sat there in her bra, Kendra's usual happy and easy-going attitude faltered for a moment upon seeing Sam's injured and bandaged side.

"What did you do Sam?" she whispered, a little shocked.

Sam gave a quick and humorless laugh.

"That's not the worst of it," she deadpanned, pointing to her burned and also bandaged shoulder, then pulling up her pant leg to show her bandaged leg as well.

"How - ?" Kendra began to ask, but Sam offered a pre-thought explanation first.

"Car accident."

Kendra's face frowned for a moment and somehow she looked like she didn't believe Sam. Quickly, though, she changed the subject. For there was one thing about Kendra that Sam knew more than anything else: you cannot fool her. _Ever._

"So, any names picked out yet?"

Kendra nodded, helping Sam out of her slacks.

"Yeah; me and Mark like Justine, Heather and Georgina the most."

Sam nodded, leaning forward so Kendra could tie the gown tight around her back. "You know what you're leaning towards most?"

"Not really. I mean, just because we like the names, it doesn't mean they'll be right when she's born. When I see her and hold her in my arms, I'll know."

Sam smiled at the happy and sure anticipation in Kendra's voice.

"Yeah," she said.

Kendra went to the door and called Dr. H in. He told Marcus to wait for them to call him back in, in a few after the tests and exam.

And so, Sam focused on the exam being over and answering the questions as (semi) honestly as she could.

An hour later, Sam was pronounced 'fine without any symptoms from the fall and the most recent accident to her head. Her flesh wounds were healing normally.' And just before Sam was leaving with Marcus after Kendra had helped her back in her clothes, Kendra pulled her to the side slightly.

"Sam, I don't believe this was a car accident for a second. You have no other flesh bruises and scrapes like you should with this other damage. I'm not pressing for answers or the truth. If you wanted to tell, you would have. Something's telling me you can't though. Just be careful, though, okay? Whatever it is you're doing. There are many people who care about you and want you to make smart choices. Just think about what it would do to your parents if you got really hurt…"

Sam scoffed.

"My parents wouldn't care. Sure, they'd play it up for their rich friends, but they wouldn't really _care."_

"I meant your _real_ parents, Sam: Marcus and Julie. I know you see them that way, and they see you as a daughter, too. Don't hurt them if you can help it."

Mutely, Sam nodded and Kendra patted her on the knee before Marcus came back and wheeled Sam off.

The ride home from Chicago from Amity Park was silent on Sam's part, though Marcus expressed his relief briefly upon Sam's overall improving health and that there wasn't other things wrong.

Sam agreed… though she couldn't get Kendra's words out of her head…

She didn't want to hurt Marcus and Julie any more. And if this Luna Specter ghost _really was_ out to kill Sam, they would be hurt. Even though Danny – and Tucker and Jazz and even Dani – would try their best to protect Sam and defeat the threat, she had this sinking feeling that they would get hurt in the process. And may not succeed…

Sam knew she needed to tell them… but it wasn't her secret to tell.

She didn't know what to do. At all. She just hoped things wouldn't ever get that bad.

How wrong Sam was…

**Authors Note: OH. MY. FREAKING. GOD. I am the MOST HORRIBLE person EVER! I haven't updated in almost THREE WHOLE MONTHS. Go ahead: you all can kill me, or maim me for doing that. I definitely deserve it.**

** Though I blame my writers block and my hectic, crazy, stressful life.**

** In those three months, I changed jobs SIX TIMES, and I moved a total of FOUR TIMES. Three of which in a 30 mile radius, but the last – and the permanent one – went to almost 3,000 miles away. I moved from the East Coast (New York state) to the West Coast (Olympic Peninsula, Washington State about an hour from Seattle) on the Fourth of July (an almost 8 hour plane ride! Ah! It was horrible!) to meet my birth father for the first time and live with him, my step-mom and two half-siblings.**

** My life is A LOT different than it was a WEEK ago.**

** So, yes; I hope to update much more frequently now. Though I have two other stories, going, I'm going to make a (rough) schedule to accommodate them, too. It'll be rough, since plans may change.**

** So, everyone please review! REVIEW PLEASE!**

** The update will most likely come faster if you do!**

** So, hurry and press that little button and tap-tap-TAP those keys! :D**

**-listenWITHyourHEART;; Cassidi**

**p.s. **_Fugitive of Gray?_ **My FAVORITE REVIEWER? This one's for you, since I felt most bad about not updating for you. Your O.C. is coming within the next five chapters or so (have to get past Christmas stuff). So yes! Hope you're still reading!**


	9. NEW IMPORTANT AuthorsNote! READ

Hello there!

So, I want to sincerely thank the reviewer, **COMPOSERDRAGON**, for giving me the _swift kick in the arse_ I needed to start up on this story again.

I love this story, but after losing my files I kind of lost interest and instead worked on other ideas I had.

However, I found the hard copies of my notes and plot-bunnies for the rest of the story! Horray!

SO. I am starting up on the next chapter, regardless that the files are forever lost, and whining about it won't get this updated.

My two fics: _The Moments I Forgot _and _Your Eyes Can't Lie to Me _(a Harry Potter: Next Generation story), will be the ones I'm focusing on right now. I will try to alternate the updates, but sometimes one just comes out faster than the other, yah know?

IN CONCLUSION: this should be updated soon, within a week I'm guessing, and YECLTM might be a bit sooner, as I'm about 3/4ths completed with the next chapter.

Thanks all my lovely reviewers for your amazing support!

-Elle; listenWITHyourHEART


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